BIBLE STORIES 
FOR. CHILDREN 




EM 



lip 



MARGARET LIVINGSTON HILL 







am? c s s^ 






•;.%. 



x?.. 







$> * r , 



yr <? 5, * U *1 



n ^ 



^ * * * ° /• *% V *• v * ° ' % 

2 



<6 Q, 









z 



\ %+<$ 



<<■ 







<£ °* 









c^ ** 






c?\ 




J '> 



\v 



c v cT> 



V/> 



<* 



^ <T 







• ^?p^ V * 



' * * s s A G 







* 



£°^ 



^0* 












^Q, y o » x "* \V 

^- \> a. V * 



* f 






<7^ V 










^0^ 



p <■ 

^0* 



*W 






tP <\ v * £ox\\i>D^^ z tP <\ v 

<0^ t^ \>^w£§r * -ay v^ 




/ 



•^ 



V-"f.y*\/ o \£V\/ %"<:,%\<f 




r/ ^ 



<- 










\> tt ^ * o , 



-' ^.0^ 



C 









-ex v 



p /■ 

^0^ 






> Y 



l0 'il v v .^^%°' x V^^-0,% 










\o<-., ^:-'--\ ( /'\.., <.: 



Bible Stories for Children 






©DM?K 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT 

Only the stars could see as they started for 
the strange new land." 





for Children 



By 

MARGARET LIVINGSTON HILL 




PHILADELPHIA 

DAVID MCKAY COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 




COPYRIGHT, 1921 
BY 

DAVID McKAY COMPANY 



MAR 28 '23 



Cl A696932 
•vi- 



Contents 

PAGE 

In the Garden 1 

Cain, Who Hated His Brother 8 

The First Rainbow 11 

The Tower of Babel... 16 

The Promise to Abram 18 

The Stolen Blessing 27 

Jacob Meets the Lord God 31 

The Boy Joseph 36 

Joseph, the Governor of Egypt 42 

The Baby in a Boat 46 

God's Power Shown to Pharaoh 52 

Out of Egypt 57 

The Golden Calf 59 

A Cluster of Grapes 63 

A City Thrown Down by Music 66 

A Fight with Lamps, Pitchers and Trumpets 69 

A Voice in the Night 73 

David 77 

Building God's House 91 

The Prophet Elijah 95 

The Little Maid 102 

God's Messengers — the Prophets 106 

The King is Come 110 

Jesus Christ as a Man 116 

Death 121 

Life 127 



List of Colored Illustrations 



The Flight Into Egypt 

Only the stars could see as they started for the strange new land. 

Frontispiece 

Isaac and Abraham Facing Page 

"My son, God will find a lamb for the offering" 18 

Joseph 

Then Joseph looked up and saw his brothers coming, with a troop 

of strange men 36 

David Before King Saul 

David sang: "The Lord is my Shepherd" 78 

Naaman's Little Maid 

"0, how I wish my master could be with the prophet Elisha!". . . 102 

Jairus' Daughter 

And Jesus took her hand, and called to her, "Daughter, awake!". . 128 



Bible Stories for Children 



IN THE GARDEN 

ONCE upon a time there was a beautiful garden 
in which grew every kind of flower and tree. 
In the early morning the dear flower faces looked up 
all wet with dew and the fresh breezes brought sweet 
perfume through the long green pathways underneath 
the trees. Above in the branches the birds would sing 
sweet morning hymns. 

Because the paths were carpeted so thick with vel- 
vet grass and trees hung low in some parts of the garden 
it was very pleasant to sit there at noon when the sun 
shone hotly outside. One might hear the hum of the 
bees going about busily from one flower to another, or 
perhaps the distant voice of the great river that passed 
through the garden to water it. 

But the best of all in this garden was the cool, 
quiet time when the sun had slipped away and the 
birds had gone to bed. For then the Lord God came 



2 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

down and talked with the man and woman who lived 
in the garden. 

As Adam and Eve sat together under the trees in 
the cool of the day, God must have told them the long 
story of the making of all things. 

Perhaps He told them more than we know about 
the years that passed before He put Adam and Eve into 
the garden. They would have enjoyed hearing of the 
strange animals living then, that are not now on the 
earth. Then He must have made them understand 
the awful punishment for sin that came to the earth, 
for everything living was swept away and even the 
earth was left an empty and shapeless mass and hung 
about with curtains of foggy clouds. 

As they heard this story Adam and Eve must have 
pressed the grass and the firm earth beneath their 
fingers, very glad that God had so changed the earth 
by His words. 

For while it lay in this awful state God's voice had 
sounded, light came, and the darkness was chased away 
by it. Again God spoke and great bodies of water rose 
and moved to their places. Things began to have shape 
and there was earth and sky. 

Another great day came. With it the dry land 
stepped out from the oceans, and presently over its 



IN THE GARDEN 3 

gray brown plainness there came up tender grass and 
trees and all manner of plants, for God had said: 

"Let the earth bring forth grass, and plants 
that have in them seeds each its own kind, 
so that there may always be plants and trees 
of all kinds growing upon the earth. " 

And it was so, for all things God made obeyed His 
word. 

The earth was beautiful then. Adam and Eve sat 
listening in wonder as they began to see the picture of 
God's greatness. For they had known Him as a friend. 

The story went on then to the fourth day, when 
answering God's call there came into the dark roof of 
the sky a great light, and the earth knew sunshine once 
more. The moon also could be seen again and was 
set to rule the night. Many other lights God put in 
the heavens, some far away suns, some others made 
like our world. Maybe He explained to Adam why He 
put them there and how to understand their move- 
ments, showing him part of the great plan He has for 
us all. 

On the fifth day God's word came again, and this 
time there was on the earth every kind of animal and 
bird and fish. All the little insects were there, as well 



4 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

as great bears and elephants. But among all these 
there was no quarreling. None tried to hurt the other. 
A lion and a lamb might be together, but the lamb 
need not be afraid, for the lion would not want to kill it. 
Everything was then as it is going to be again in the 
time that is to come, when the Lord Jesus Christ shall 
come back to the earth to rule as King. 

This was God's story of the making of the earth 
and preparing it for His people. They listened as He 
told them how He had called them also into life out of 
the dust of the earth and breathed into them so that 
they could see and think and feel. That was the sixth 
day of His work — and God looked upon it and saw that 
it was good. 

Then He rested for a solemn, quiet day. He made 
this Seventh Day a Sabbath as long and as beautiful as 
each of the six work-days that had gone before. God 
closed His story to Adam and Eve by telling them He 
blessed forever the seventh day, and made it a day holy 
to Him for all time. 

Some time after they had heard this story Adam 
and Eve were walking through the garden, looking at the 
trees, and eating some of the ripe fruit which hung from 
the branches. They came to the middle of the garden 
where stood a tree especially beautiful and full of fruit. 



IN THE GARDEN 5 

Now they had both been told not to eat any of the 
fruit of this tree. But Eve stopped a little while in its 
pleasant shadow. A sound near by made her turn 
around. There was one of the animals of the garden 
looking at her with deep, wise eyes. It was a snake, not 
an ugly thing wriggling on the ground such as we see 
nowadays, but a beautiful animal with a glossy skin 
and very graceful movements. It spoke to her, for 
Satan — that bad spirit who is always trying to make us 
do wrong things — had slipped into the snake's body, 
and now he said in a little, tempting voice: 

"Why don't you eat this fruit? It will 
make you know all about everything just as 
God does." 

Eve remembered what God had said, but she stood 
there looking at the fruit and listening to Satan's voice. 
She looked so long that it began to seem right to her to 
take it. When she tasted it, she liked it so much that 
she called Adam, and he ate some too. 

The fruit did not make them happy at all, though 
— it only made them think about themselves. They 
had felt as free and happy as the birds that morning, 
but now they realized that they had no clothes, and 
went quickly to work to fix some out of the broad fig 



6 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

leaves. Their pleasant walking in the garden was done, 
for they were ashamed to look at each other or at the 
things God had given them because they knew they had 
done what God had told them not to do. 

The evening came, and the Voice that they were 
now afraid of sounded among the trees of the garden. 
He was calling Adam. The fragrance of flowers was on 
the evening breeze and the birds whispered softly their 
good-nights just as on other nights, but it all seemed 
so different to Adam now. He was afraid to have the 
dark shadows come. He was too ashamed to answer the 
voice of God; it sounded solemn, and yet as full of love 
as before. 

But there is no place where one may hide from the 
Lord God, and Adam had to come when God called 
again. Then, as he had tried to hide, so Adam tried to 
put the wrong of what he had done upon Eve, and 
answered the Lord: 

"The woman you gave to me, she picked the 
fruit and gave it to me." 

Then God spoke to them both sadly, telling them 
how by disobeying Him they had spoiled the beautiful 
place He gave them, and so they were not fit to live 
there any more. He had to punish them by making 



IN THE GARDEN 7 

them work very hard and suffer pain. To remind them 
of it the snake was punished by being turned into the 
wriggling, wicked looking animal that we see nowadays. 
God sent Adam and Eve away from the garden 
and put at the gate an angel with a sword of fire so 
that no one might go in there any more. 



II 
GAIN, WHO HATED HIS BROTHER 

OUTSIDE the garden life was much harder for 
Adam and Eve than it had been before. Adam 
had to work to make things grow in the stony ground, 
where weeds and thorny plants grew often as fast as the 
wheat. Eve, too, had to learn to prepare the food and 
to make clothes from the skins of animals. Soon they 
gathered together sheep and cows and took care of them 
so that they might always have something for food and 
clothing. 

Their oldest son was named Cain. He went often 
with his father into the fields to work, but his brother 
Abel liked better to tend the sheep. 

Now since Adam and Eve had left the garden God 
had taught them many things to help them. He still 
loved them, and wanted them to live happily and love 
Him. They had taught their children that when any- 
one went against God's rules for them they must burn 
a lamb or other animal upon a pile of stones — called 
an altar — and pray to God, asking Him to forgive them. 
When a rule is broken someone must suffer, so God 



CAIN, WHO HATED HIS BROTHER 9 

allowed them to kill this lamb as a sign that they were 
sorry for their sin. That is the reason why Jesus Christ 
is called the "Lamb," because He was sent to die and 
take away the sin of everyone who will come to Him. 

One day the two brothers, Cain and Abel, went to 
burn an offering to the Lord. Abel brought a lamb, 
one of the best he had. But Cain brought some of the 
things that grew in his garden, which were not what 
God had asked for. When God made Cain understand 
that He did not like this offering, Cain was very angry. 

Instead of going out to find something that would 
please God, Cain began to quarrel with Abel about it. 
Hatred came into his heart because Abel had done 
better than he. The awful hatred grew as he talked, 
and at last he lifted up his hand and struck Abel so 
hard that it killed him. 

As Cain stood there seeing what he had done, the 
Voice of God spoke to him, asking — 

"Where is your brother?" 

"I don't know," said Cain, "was I set to watch 
over my brother?" 

Then God answered him, "Oh Cain, do you not 
see what you have done? Now you must run away 
from your brothers and sisters and be a homeless wan- 
derer all the days of your life." 



10 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

Cain bowed his head as though his punishment 
was too heavy to carry. But he did not say he was sorry. 
Instead he took his wife and went out from his home 
far away to strange countries. 



in 

THE FIRST RAINBOW 

MANY years passed by. Adam and Eve had died, 
even their grandchildren were becoming old men 
and women and had many grandchildren of their own. 
So the earth had now a great number of people living 
in it. 

But when God looked down on them from heaven 
He saw that they were still doing what Adam and Cain 
had done. They did not want Him to be their Heavenly 
Father, but instead they made up ways in their hearts 
to have a good time, believing they knew more than the 
Lord of Heaven and earth. All the time God kept on 
giving them beautiful things as he had given Adam a 
garden, and though they knew and understood the 
rules, they would again and again break them, which 
always put them farther from Him. 

It was as if a father brought home a beautiful toy 
to his children, who when they saw it tore it to pieces, 
because each one wanted it for himself, forgetting en- 
tirely the love of the father who had bought it for them. 

So here in the earth was each man thinking of 

11 



12 



BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 



himself, and God was grieved. He knew that he must 
punish them so that the people would remember Him 
again. 

Now there is almost always in every wicked city 
at least one good man, who tries to remind the people 
of their Heavenly Father. Noah and his family were 
this kind. The rest of the people never listened for 
God's voice, but He spoke to Noah. 

Once upon a time He gave Noah a very strange 
command. He told him to make a boat large enough 
to hold his family, with a place in it for two of every 
kind of animal and seven of some kinds. God explained 
to him that the people had been given every chance 
to come back to Him, but they would not. Now every 
child did more wrong than his father had done and they 
were not fit to live any longer on the earth. So God would 
make the earth quite clean by destroying them all. 

Noah set to work at once to build the great boat, 
and God told him exactly how to do it. The people 
must have gathered about as he worked, to ask him 
why he was doing this. Then he and his sons reminded 
them again of God and begged them to come back to 
Him, before they should all be killed. But they laughed 
or were angry with him and went off upon their own 
ways. 



THE FIRST RAINBOW 13 

When the great ark was finished Noah brought 
in the animals and put them in their places and led in 
also his wife and children. The other people must have 
made great fun of them as Noah's family went in, pre- 
pared to stay for several weeks. 

And then the rain came, first a few drops, then 
faster and faster grew their sound on the roof of the 
ark. Inside, the people looked at each other and were 
quiet as they started on the strangest journey that 
was ever taken in a boat. Then it must have been that 
Noah as the father of his family spoke to their Heavenly 
Father to ask Him to be with them wherever they were 
going. The sound of the rain was rushing now like a 
waterfall. The ark trembled and then began slowly 
to rise from the ground, carried up by the deep water 
that had already fallen. Still the rain fell — through 
the long days and nights. 

There was plenty to eat in the ark, for God had 
told them how much to bring. So they lived quietly 
in this strange place for five months, until the ark 
came to rest upon the top of a mountain called Ararat. 
And then they still had a very long time to wait until 
the oceans of water were gone and they could step out 
on dry ground again. 

For three months the waters grew gradually less 



14 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

and less. Then one day Noah opened a little window 
high up in the ark and looked about. Far off against 
the sky were dark blue lines rising above the smooth 
waters around them. These were the tops of moun- 
tains like the mountain upon which their ark had come 
to rest. 

After waiting patiently for forty days more, Noah 
allowed a raven and a dove to fly out of the window, 
to see if there would be a tree uncovered from the waters 
for them to alight upon. The people were very sad 
when the birds came back, for they knew that that 
meant more waiting. 

About a week later Noah opened the window again. 
This time the air that rushed in was sweet like the 
sunny smell of a daisy field in the summer time. The 
dove flew out and was gone all day. Toward evening 
they heard her wings fluttering at the window, and 
Noah let her in. In her bill was an olive leaf. When 
they saw this, they all shouted for joy and thanked 
God that He had brought them safely out of the awful 
storm. 

They waited another week, and this time the dove 
did not come back when it was sent out. By this they 
knew that there must be growing things for food and 
trees to nest in now upon the earth. 



THE FIRST RAINBOW 15 

After a few days the earth was quite dry and God 
told Noah that he might now open the door of the 
ark. Noah's wife and his sons and daughters stepped 
out into the wonderful new-made earth, with their hearts 
as good and clean before God as the fresh grass that 
shone in the sunshine. They knew then how strong 
He was, and that nothing was worth while but to obey 
Him. 

God had one thing more for Noah's people to hear. 
While the animals rushed gladly out into the sun- 
shine God said quietly to the people who had gathered 
into a little prayer-meeting: 

"Behold, I am going to make a promise to you 
and to everyone who lives on the earth! Do you see 
over in that cloud the big arch of all colors that touches 
the earth and the sky? That is a rainbow which I have 
put there as a sign that never again will I allow rain 
to fall until it becomes a flood to destroy everybody. 

"When great rains come then you will see My 
rainbow here in the cloud for a promise, between you 
and Me and every living creature forever." 



IV 

THE TOWER OF BABEL 

DOWN on the broad level plain of Shinar there 
was a sound like the noise of a great city. Some 
men were making plans, some shouting orders, others 
were digging, or mixing mud and straw to make bricks. 
Everybody was working with his whole might, as 
though he were running a race. 

Someone, probably their ruler, Nimrod, had a plan 
that he was sure would make him as great as God. 
The people all joined heartily in it, forgetting so easily 
the lesson God had taught their fathers at the flood 
time. Their wish was to build a tower that would 
touch the sky and so reach heaven. 

They had started to go far out from one another, 
each family to find plenty of room to live in, because 
they were continually quarreling over their possessions. 
But they decided not to do this, saying, 

"Let us stay here and make a great name for our- 
selves and be rich!" As they worked together upon 
this tower which they hoped would make them so great, 
God looked down on His children sadly again, and 

16 



THE TOWER OF BABEL 17 

sent to them a punishment which made them obey 
Him. 

Up to this time all the people had had the same 
language, but now they all began to speak differently, 
so that they could not understand each other at all. 
The people could no longer work together and finally 
went away in all directions, as God meant them to do. 

Always after this they called that city "Babel" 
— which means confusion. 

But, sadly enough, they quickly forgot God again, 
and in their new homes they began to make little clay 
dolls to pray to. Very often they knelt before the sun 
or moon or some animal instead of trying to speak 
to the One God who had made them and loved them. 



THE PROMISE TO ABRAM 

NOT far from Babel, about two hundred years 
after the people had tried to build the tower 
there, lived a very rich man named Abram. He had 
not only silver and gold, but many fine flocks of sheep 
and goats, and herds of cows as well. The country here 
was very pleasant and the earth gave good crops. 

He lived a quiet, happy life among the people he 
liad grown up with — many of them his cousins — and 
he had a very beautiful wife. 

One night God spoke to Abram, and told him to 
leave his home and the country he loved and go out 
to a strange land. He said, 

"Go, Abram, I will take care of you and your 
children forever and make you happy, and 
through you everybody on the earth may 
find a way to be happy." 

Abram did it. He did not know anything about 
the new country that he would be given, but he trusted 
God to know best. 

18 




DM?K 



ISAAC AND ABRAHAM 

My son, God will find a lamb for the offering." 



THE PROMISE TO ABRAM 19 

He took with him his beautiful wife Sarah, and 
his brother's son, Lot, who had been left in Abram's 
care when the brother died. 

They traveled very slowly, not at all as we move 
from one city to another nowadays. For they had to 
drive with them all their sheep and goats, and put 
up their tents every night beside a pasture land. In 
the morning the servants would attend to the animals, 
pack up the tents, and strap on to the mules' backs 
the great loads of things that they were carrying with 
them. Then they would start off, moving slowly like 
a great army. 

So they crossed over into Egypt where everything 
seemed very strange to them. They stayed here for a 
long time, but God sent them out again, for that was 
not the country He had chosen for Abram. 

He sent them instead to a land called Canaan, 
farther north than they had ever been before, and 
bordering on the great Mediterranean Sea. 

Canaan was almost like a garden, it was so full 
of good things. Everything grew here easily. Lot and 
Abram stood together on a hill top one day and looked 
down on the beautiful fresh greenness of the valley 
where the Jordan River ran. They had been troubled 
by quarrels among their servants. Lot's shepherds 



20 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

would say that Abram's men had taken a pasture 
that belonged to Lot, or the other way about. So 
Abram said to Lot: 

"See, here is a whole land before us" — he pointed 
to the valley and the distant hills — "why should we 
not separate? You choose which part of the country 
you want for your home, then I will live somewhere 
else, and we shall each have plenty of room." 

Lot was quiet for a minute. The hills were steep, 
but in the valley it was easy to travel about. The river 
ran through the valley, as well as many smaller streams. 
Along its banks all kinds of plants were growing — 
a rich tempting green. 

"I will live in the valley," said Lot, choosing what 
he thought was the best for himself. 

Now the people who already lived in the valley 
were a great deal like those who had to be destroyed 
in the flood. They were so busy trying to have a good 
time that they quite forgot about God. Lot and his 
wife and children went to live among them and, al- 
though they knew better, they began to be very much 
like them. 

Later, when the cities grew so wicked that God 
had to send two angels to burn them up, He allowed 
Lot and his wife and their two daughters to escape. 



THE PROMISE TO ABRAM 21 

But Lot's wife looked back at the city after she had 
been told not to turn at all, and she was changed into 
a strange white pillar of salt. So that Lot, after choos- 
ing the rich valley with its gay cities, was left with none 
of his wealth nor his servants nor cattle — even his 
wife was gone. 

Abram in the meantime went up to live in Canaan, 
far away from the cities in the plain. As soon as he 
came to a place where he could live, God spoke to him 
again, saying: 

"Look, Abram, as far as you can see, to the north, 
to the east, to the west and south. All the land that 
you can see from here I will give to you and to your 
children and to all their children as long as the world 
lasts. And from this day in which I have made you 
the promise, your name shall be changed from Abram 
to Abraham, and the land of Canaan shall belong to 
you and your children forever. Some of them shall 
be kings, and they shall be a great nation." 

Abraham believed God's promise, but he could not 
understand it very well, for he had no children. He 
kept hoping though that some day he would have a 
son, and then he would teach him about God, and this 
one would teach his own children until some day there 
would be a great race of people all living here obeying 



22 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

and loving their heavenly Father. But the years went 
on, and though Abraham and Sarah were getting to 
be quite old, still they had no children. 

One night Abraham went out of his tent and 
walked away off to the top of a hill, and looking up 
at the stars he began to speak to God about it. 

"0 dear Father in Heaven, " he said, "I know that 
You haven't forgotten me and I believe the promise 
You gave me so long ago. But I cannot understand 
at all how it can ever happen now. How can I who 
have no son or daughter be the father of a great race 
of people?" 

Then God said, "Look up at the sky, Abraham, 
and try to count the stars there. I promise you, Abra- 
ham, that in the great race of which you are to be the 
beginning there shall be more people than the number 
of the stars!" 

Abraham did not understand it yet, but he went 
away from his talk with God believing more than he ever 
had before that God was true and would keep his word. 

Not long after that there came three visitors to 
the tent door asking for Abraham. They were strangers 
in the land and very uncommon sort of men, tall and 
fine looking. So Abraham and Sarah entertained them 
as well as they knew how and were very much pleased 



THE PROMISE TO ABRAM 23 

with them. After supper, as they sat before the tent 
watching the stars come out, one of the strangers sud- 
denly turned to Abraham as though he had known 
him a long time and said, 

" Abraham, you and Sarah are going to have a son!" 

Abraham was very much surprised, for he had not 
told anyone about God's promise — and how could this 
stranger know? 

But the man went on to tell him just when the 
child would be born, and that nothing was impossible 
for God to do. 

Then the strangers told Abraham what work they 
had been sent to do, so that he understood that they 
were angels. He was happy, for he knew then that 
their words were true. 

When the little boy Isaac was born there was great 
joy in the tents of Abraham and Sarah and all their 
serving people. The child was beautiful and was loved 
by everyone. 

Isaac was brought up with the tenderest care and 
always taught to love most of all His Heavenly Father, 
to listen for His word and to obey it. They lived on 
in great happiness together, Isaac growing taller now 
and stronger in his mind and body as he learned the 
lessons that Abraham taught him. 



24 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

One day when Abraham was praying alone God 
gave him a very strange command. He told him to 
rise up early the next morning and travel far up to the 
top of a certain hill, and take a pot of coals to start a 
fire and a bundle of wood as men used to do when they 
burned an animal as an offering to God. Abraham 
had often done this, as a sign that he loved God or 
was sorry for something wrong that he had done. 

But this time God did not tell him to take a lamb 
or a bird as a sacrifice to burn upon the altar. He 
told him instead to take his dear little son, Isaac. 

Now if Abraham had been a different man, one 
who had not followed God's word even when he did 
not understand it, he would probably have said: 

"Never will I do such a thing as that! I will not 
obey a God who asks such things as that! Why did 
He give me a son, if I am to burn him on an altar?" 

But Abraham knew God well enough to know that 
whatever He did was right, no matter how it might 
seem to a man. So he bowed his head and promised 
to do it, although he was full of sorrow. 

The next morning when they started out together 
no one knew, not even the boy at his side, the awful 
thing that lay before Abraham to do. 

As Isaac ran along happily beside his father he 



THE PROMISE TO ABRAM 25 

suddenly noticed the quiet sadness on Abraham's face. 
His father was always full of fun and laughter and 
it was strange to see him sorrowful. 

Isaac stopped running about and walked in silence 
by his father's side, to show him that he too was sorry 
for anything that might have hurt his father. 

Together they climbed the steep mountain in 
silence, the little boy keeping step with the long stride 
of the man. 

Suddenly Isaac noticed that there was no lamb 
for the sacrifice, and thinking his father had forgotten 
it, he spoke quickly, 

"Father, look, here is the fire and the wood, but 
where is the lamb for an offering?" 

Abraham put his hand on the boy's shoulder, 
hardly daring to look down at the face he loved, 

"My son," he said, not ready yet to tell Isaac 
what must be done. "My son, God himself will pro- 
vide a lamb for the offering." 

Isaac was full of awe and wondered whether they 
should see God at the top of the mountain, but he 
said no more until they reached the spot. 

Then he helped his father to lay the wood upon 
the stones carefully so that the fire would catch. When 
all was ready, Abraham took the cords he had brought 



26 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

and bound them about the boy and laid him upon the 
altar. But as he took up the knife to obey God's word 
the voice of an angel called to him from heaven and 
said, " Abraham! Abraham! 7 ' 

"Here am I," said Abraham. 

"Do not hurt the boy, for now I know that you 
love God, because you are willing to give Him every- 
thing you have." 

His hands trembled with joy as he unfastened the 
cords that bound Isaac. 

A little sound in the bushes made him turn around. 
There was a ram caught by the horns. He freed it, 
and offered it as a thank-offering upon the altar in the 
place of his son. 

Abraham and Isaac must have stayed on the moun- 
tain a long time that day talking to God, and waiting 
to hear His word. Isaac never forgot that day through 
all of his life, for he came to know well his Heavenly 
Father, who repeated before Isaac the wonderful 
promise. 

When Abraham and his son came down from the 
mountain their faces shone with the brightness of that 
beautiful talk with their Heavenly Father. 

The long journey home they went happily. 



VI 

THE STOLEN BLESSING 

WHEN Isaac grew up he married a woman of 
their own people whose name was Rebekah. 
They had two sons, Jacob and Esau. 

The boys were almost the same age, but Jacob was 
very different from Esau, who loved to play outdoors 
so much that he would run off the first thing in the 
morning and sometimes not come back until almost 
dark. He would take with him his bow and arrows 
and learned to hit whatever he aimed at. So that as 
he grew up he became a very good hunter. 

But Jacob did not care for that kind of play. He 
would sit at the door of the tent and dream about what 
he should do if he were a man, and wonder how it would 
be to live on the other side of those hills that looked 
so far away and blue against the sky. 

Jacob was quiet and gentle, and very thoughtful 
of his mother. So that Rebekah grew to love Jacob 
more than Esau, whose ways were rough and noisy. 

Now it was the custom among these people that 
the oldest son should have a particular blessing from 

27 



28 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

his father at the time when the father gave an inherit- 
ance to each of his sons. The father would ask God 
to be very good to that oldest son. It was a great honor 
in this family, for it meant that God's promise to Abra- 
ham was passed on to that oldest son. 

Esau was older than Jacob, and as the time drew 
near for one of them to be given this blessing, Jacob 
wanted it for himself. "I ought to have it," he would 
say to himself; "he knows only how to hunt and 
kill, but I can think and plan." 

One day Jacob was thinking about this as he went 
about his work in the tent. He was making some 
good thick soup out of red beans, which he knew that 
Esau loved. Pretty soon Esau came striding along 
through the sunshine, and sat down at the tent door, 
hot and dusty from the fields. He said to Jacob, 

"I feel as if I should die if I do not have something 
to eat right away! Give me some of that good soup 
I smell." 

Jacob looked at him in disgust. What a way for 
one to look and act who should some day soon be a kind 
of king in the family, as the oldest son! 

"Of course I will give you some, Esau, if you will 
give me your birthright." 

"Surely," answered Esau carelessly, "what do I 



THE STOLEN BLESSING 29 

need of that now? I won't live long enough to enjoy it 
if you don't soon give me food." 

"Promise me first/' said Jacob, making sure of 
this good thing for himself. 

So Esau swore to him to give up his blessing for a 
dish of soup, and forgot from that minute what he had 
done. 

But Jacob did some careful planning. 

Not long after this Isaac called Esau to him and 
said to him: 

"My son, I am growing very old. Before I leave 
this earth I want to give you my blessing, for you are 
my oldest son. Go out into the woods and kill a wild 
deer or goat, and prepare it in a dish of meat as you 
know I like it. When you bring it to me I will bless you. ' ' 

So Esau hurried out. Rebekah had been listen- 
ing, and because she wanted Jacob to have the bless- 
ing she called him and told him what to do. She sent 
him for two small goats from their own flocks and 
herself cooked the dish of meat. 

Then Jacob put the goat skins over his hands to 
make his father feel that his hands were rough and 
hairy, and so think that he was Esau. For Isaac was 
now so old that he was nearly blind, and could not 
see Jacob's face. 



30 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

"My father/' began Jacob when he came into 
Isaac's room. 

"What! Have you come so soon?" asked Isaac, 
surprised. "But this is not Esau, for it is Jacob's 
voice I hear." 

"This is truly Esau, your oldest son," said Jacob, 
putting up his hairy hands for Isaac to feel. These 
and the clothes he wore, which Jacob had stolen from 
his brother, made Isaac sure that this was Esau. So 
he stretched out his arms above Jacob's head and 
prayed: 

"May God bless you and give you the dew of 
heaven, and the good things of earth. May you be a 
king in your house and even your brothers bow down 
before you." 

Jacob rose up from his knees and went out. He 
had hardly gone when Esau came in with a dish of 
meat for his father. Isaac was very sorrowful when 
he found that Jacob had lied to him and stolen the 
blessing, and he died very soon after. Esau was angry 
at his brother and wanted to kill him, but Jacob had 
left his home, and traveling alone had come into a far 
off country. 



VII 

JACOB MEETS THE LORD GOD 

THE skies were growing dark. Here and there 
a star slipped out; but its tiny candle could not 
light the great darkness that came creeping over the 
earth. In the middle of a plain stood Jacob, all alone. 
Not a house was in sight, nor any man nor animal. 
As the night came on Jacob longed more and more 
for his home. Esau would not have been afraid to be 
here, for he loved the great sky and all the open plains 
and woods, but Jacob had always been busy about the 
tents, and he had no notion how to make a bed or 
go to sleep under the stars. 

So he pulled a flat stone out to a level piece of 
ground and, laying his tired head upon it, he fell asleep. 

When God promises to bless a man He finds a 
way to do it when the man needs Him most. Jacob 
dreamed that he saw God's angels going up and down 
a ladder. Its foot was set right by his stony pillow and 
climbed far up through the dark blue sky among the 
stars to where a brighter light shone, so that he knew 
that Heaven was there, and God was very near. 

31 



32 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

He heard God's voice saying, "I am the Lord 
God, the God of Abraham, and of your Father Isaac, 
and I will be your God. This land that you are lying 
on I will give to you and your children forever. They 
shall be a great race, and through them there shall be a 
way for all the nations of the earth to be made happy." 
As soon as he awoke from the dream Jacob knelt 
down there and thanked God for making him remember 
that He was not far away, even in that strange and 
awful place. 

Then Jacob saw around him a great many such 
stones as he had used for a pillow that night. He 
gathered them into a pile and built of them an altar 
to remind him that God had been there. He called 
that spot Bethel — which means the "house of God," 
and so it is called to this day. 

Many times you have sung in church or school 
that old story of Jacob's journey — 
"Though, like a wanderer, 
The sun gone down, 
Darkness be over me, 

My rest a stone, 
Yet in my dreams I'd be 
Nearer, my God, to Thee!" 



JACOB MEETS THE LORD GOD 33 

Far off across a hot and dusty plain Jacob saw 
a group of tall palm trees, and he hurried his tired 
feet, for that meant that a well or spring was there, 
where he might rest and be refreshed. He was now 
many miles from Bethel and very tired of wandering. 

As he came nearer he saw great flocks of sheep 
standing about the well, and men and women drawing 
water from it for the sheep to drink. Among them 
stood one woman more beautiful than anyone Jacob 
had ever seen. He helped the servants with their work 
for a few minutes. 

"What country is this?" he asked them. And 
they told him it was Haran. 

"Then this land and these sheep belong to Laban, 
my uncle?" he asked joyfully. 

"Yes, and we are his servants. Over there" — they 
pointed to the beautiful girl — "is Rachel, one of Laban's 
daughters." 

Then Jacob went gladly to her, told her that he 
was Isaac's son, and kissed her solemnly. Then he sat 
down and began to cry because he was so happy, to 
have come to his own people and to have found Rachel 
whom he loved from the minute he saw her. 

They went back to Laban's house together, where 
Jacob had a hearty welcome, 

3 



34 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

Laban offered him a home, and in exchange for this 
Jacob was to work for him. After a certain number 
of years Rachel was to become his wife. 

Jacob spent about twenty years in Laban's home, 
and then he wished to return to his own people. So 
Laban gave him a good share of the sheep and cows 
and promised to let him go. But Jacob took his share 
and hurriedly slipped away lest his uncle would not be 
true to his word. Rachel stole some of her father's 
little idols that he had taught her to pray to instead 
of God. Jacob had been having a good time in Laban's 
house and had been so anxious about getting rich that 
he had not lived very much like one of God's children. 
He did not seem to remember to tell Rachel anything 
about the God he had found at Bethel 

As they went on in their journey and drew near 
home Jacob began to be afraid to come back and meet 
his brother Esau from whom he had run away. So he 
divided his flocks and sent some of his servants ahead 
with them as a present for Esau. 

But Esau was glad that he had returned and no 
longer wished to kill him. He came out a day's journey 
to meet him, and when he saw him threw his arms 
around him and kissed him. 

They camped that night near a brook. All the 



JACOB MEETS THE LORD GOD 35 

way home Jacob had been remembering things that 
had been put away on high forgotten shelves in his 
mind, and had grown very dusty. It troubled him to 
think about the promise he had made at Bethel that 
he would follow God all his life, and that now for twenty 
years he had not followed him at all. Tonight he 
sent over ahead of him all his family and servants. 

As he walked along thinking hard he came face 
to face with a man that he had not seen before. He 
had thought he was alone, and at once took this man 
for an enemy. Without saying a word he began to 
fight. The other caught him in a strong grip. They 
wrestled for a long time there by the river, but Jacob, 
although he was a strong man, could not put this 
stranger down. 

Presently the stranger touched Jacob's thigh and 
one of the muscles shrank — and the stranger spoke 
for the first time. 

"What is your name?" 

"Jacob." 

"Your name shall after this be 'Israel/ which 
means 'Prince of God/ for you shall be like a prince 
with men and with God Who is your King." 

The stranger would not tell his name and was 
gone, but Jacob knew that he had met God there. 



VIII 

THE BOY JOSEPH 

JACOB had twelve splendid sons. All their names 
are well remembered to this day because after each 
of them is named one of the great tribes of the children 
of Israel, whom we call Jews today. There were Reuben 
and Simeon and Dan and Gad and Naphtali, whose 
children's children and their children's children have 
come to be, just as God promised, more than the grains 
of sand on the seashore, or stars in the sky in numbers. 

There was little Benjamin, the youngest of all, who 
became later the father of a great race of people, because 
from his family came the Joseph who married Mary, 
the mother of Jesus. Was it not strange that when 
the boy Judah was born he was given this name, which 
means "The Lord be praised!" He was the only one 
of the brothers whose name meant a blessing, and his 
father said of him that some day there should be among 
Judah's people a "Lion" who should be stronger than 
the others and should be a way to save them all. 

And yet with all these wonderful words about him 
not even Judah's great-grandchildren ever lived to see 

36 




©DM?K 



JOSEPH 



" Then Joseph looked up and saw his brothers 
coming, with a troop of strange men." 



THE BOY JOSEPH 37 

Jesus on earth. For this time was nearly as many hun- 
dred years before His coming as we are living after Him. 

Now there was one more boy in Jacob's family 
whom he loved even better than the others. He was 
thoughtful as his father had been when he was a boy, 
and could understand very hard things. And yet there 
was no tribe named after Joseph, for a strange thing 
happened to him when he was only a boy. 

One day when his brothers were in the fields of 
Dothen tending their father's sheep, Jacob sent Joseph 
to go out and help them. So he started out wearing 
the bright coat of many colors which his father had 
made for him because he loved him so much. 

As Joseph came near to Dothan, looking for his 
brothers, he saw that they seemed to be acting strangely. 
They had beckoned to each other and drawn together 
in a little group, talking angrily and pointing at him. 
He shaded his eyes with his hand and looked more 
closely to be sure. 

For some time they had been angry at him ever 
since the time he had told them about his dreams. 
They did not like to think that they would ever have 
to bow down to him, for in one dream he had seen twelve 
stars and the sun and the moon circle around and bow 
down before one star. And another time he had dreamed 



38 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

that they were all out in the fields tying wheat up into 
bundles, and suddenly all the other bundles had fallen 
down on the ground before the one he had made. 

Of course these things had made his brothers dis- 
like him and call him "the dreamer!" and make a great 
deal of fun of him. 

As he stood watching them in surprise, the coat 
of many colors looked very gay in the sunshine and 
made them angry. 

"Let's kill him," muttered one of the boys, with 
a frown. 

"Yes, let us take that coat home to our father 
and say that a wild animal had killed him and we found 
his coat all covered with blood." 

But Reuben the oldest brother would not let them 
do this. 

"No," he said, "we can throw him into this old 
well that no one uses, and he will never find the way 
home again from a wild place like this." 

So they agreed on this. Reuben's plan was to 
come back to the well — which had no water in it — 
and take Joseph safely home. 

As Joseph walked on toward his brothers, troubled 
at their strange actions, they came to meet him, and 
bound him, throwing him into the pit as they planned. 



THE BOY JOSEPH 39 

Then they went back to their lunch. A troop of 
men and camels came near, and told the brothers that 
they were on their way down to Egypt to sell their packs 
of spices. 

The boys thought it would be a fine plan to send 
Joseph with these men, for then they would surely be 
rid of him forever. Now Reuben was off in a distant 
pasture and did not hear this talk. When he came 
back to the pit, to his horror he found that Joseph was 
not there. Then he heard the story of how the boys 
had sold him to these strangers who had given them 
twenty pieces of silver money to pay for him. 

They all went back to Jacob with the sad story 
of how Joseph had been killed by a bear or lion in a 
wild place. Jacob's heart was broken and no one could 
comfort him because he had lost his dearest son. 

In the meantime Joseph was traveling in a strange 
new country. The people had dark skins, and wore 
rich clothes and many gold rings and chains. They 
prayed to the sun and moon and often to a cow, which 
they thought was a god. They made pictures and 
images of a cow in gold and knelt down before them 
to ask them to make them well, or to help them in a 
journey or a war. They had never heard of the Heavenly 
Father whom Joseph's people called Jehovah. 



* 



40 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

As they rode through Egypt Joseph saw on either 
side of the road many tall cornfields and fruit trees full of 
fruit, and he knew that he had come into a rich country. 

One of the soldiers of the king's guard, Potiphar 
the captain, bought him from the men he had come 
with. Potiphar was a great man and very rich, but he 
grew to like and trust Joseph so much that he put him 
in charge of all that he had, his house and farm and 



One night the king — they called him Pharaoh in 
that country — dreamed two dreams that troubled him, 
so that he wished to know what they meant, but none 
of his wise men could tell him. 

So they called for Joseph who had explained a 
dream for the king's baker and the butler — and his 
words had come true. 

Pharaoh had dreamed that he saw seven fat cows 
standing on the river bank, and that seven very thin 
cows came and ate them up and were no fatter than 
before. Again he dreamed that he saw seven good ears 
of corn on a stalk and seven poor ears had eaten up the 
good ones, just as the cows had done. 

Joseph when he heard this knew exactly what it 
meant, for God put it in his heart to understand. 

He spoke boldly to the king: 



THE BOY JOSEPH 41 

"0 Pharaoh, these seven fat cows which you saw 
are the seven years when there shall be more than 
enough for everyone to eat and the country shall be 
very rich. But after these years there are coming seven 
years of famine when the corn and wheat will not grow 
well and cattle will die. And the dream about the wheat 
means the same, that the years of famine shall more 
than use up all that is saved in the rich years/' 

The king was troubled when he heard this, and 
Joseph said to him: 

"A very wise man ought to be chosen to do this 
work for the king. He should save one-fifth part of all 
that grows in Egypt during these good years, so that 
the people may have enough when nothing grows." 

Pharaoh thought to himself, " Where can I find 
a man who is wise enough to know how to make the 
people do this, and to know how much to save?" 

Suddenly he said, 

" Joseph, if you were wise enough to know what 
this dream meant, then you must be the only man 
who can do this for me. I will make you second in all 
Egypt next in rank to me, as though you were my son." 

And he took a ring from his own finger and put it 
on Joseph, to show that he meant to make him greater 
than anyone in the country except the king. 



IX 

JOSEPH, THE GOVERNOR OF EGYPT 

WHEN the days of plenty were over the people 
were sick and dying in all the countries around 
Egypt because they had no food. Only in Egypt they 
had plenty, because Joseph had stored up for them 
more than could be counted. 

Down in Canaan there was a big family who had 
nothing left. They decided to go up to Egypt with 
sacks and buy all they could. Their father did not 
go, for he was very old, nor their youngest brother. 

When these ten men came to Egypt and told what 
they had come for, they were taken to Joseph, the 
governor, who attended to all such things. 

When he saw them he knew that they were his 
own brothers, but they did not recognize him, so he said, 

"No, I cannot let you have any corn unless I am 
sure that you are not spies/' 

"Of course we are not spies/' they answered him, 
"we are all sons of one man in Canaan." 

Joseph led them to talking still further about their 
home, for he wished to know if his father was alive. 

42 



JOSEPH, THE GOVERNOR OF EGYPT 43 

"If you cannot bring your youngest brother with 
you I cannot believe you are true men and not spies." 

So they left Simeon in Egypt so that they would 
surely come back again, and went to bring Benjamin. 
Joseph had ordered their sacks filled full of corn, and 
would not keep any money to pay for it, but had the 
servant put it back into the top of each man's sack. 

But Jacob would not let Benjamin go. Finally, 
when the corn was all gone and everyone was suffering, 
Judah went to his father and begged again that they 
might take Benjamin down to Egypt with them, promis- 
ing to bring him back safely. 

This time when they came they were invited to 
dinner at the governor's house. They were afraid at 
this, thinking that that money which Joseph had had 
returned to them was now going to be a proof against 
them that they were not good men. 

All through the dinner they could not under- 
stand Joseph's kindness, which was especially great to 
Benjamin. He kept sending very nice dishes of food 
to him, but Joseph was so glad and excited to see all his 
brothers again that he could scarcely eat his own dinner. 

When the men left Joseph gave orders again that 
the money was to be put back into the sacks which 
were full of corn. 



44 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

"And put my silver cup in the sack of the youngest 
brother. " 

Then, when the brothers had been gone just a little 
while, Joseph sent a servant running after them, saying 
that one of them had stolen Joseph's silver cup. The 
one who had it in his sack was to be arrested and 
brought back to be a slave to Joseph. The others 
might go home. This was Joseph's trick, of course, to 
keep Benjamin living in Egypt with him. 

None of the brothers expected that the cup would 
be found with them, for they knew they had not stolen 
it. When it was brought out of Benjamin's sack they 
were all frightened, for they could not go home to their 
father without Benjamin. 

So they hurried back to Joseph, and Judah pleaded 
hard with Joseph to show him how it must kill their 
old father if he could not see his son Benjamin again. 

When he had finished, Joseph sent all the servants 
away, and said: 

"I am Joseph — is my father still alive?" 

They looked at him in silence. Some of them 
were afraid lest Joseph would kill them for what they 
had done to him. Some could not believe it was their 
brother. 

But Benjamin knew him, and he put his arms 



JOSEPH, THE GOVERNOR OF EGYPT 45 

around him, and cried for all the long years they had 
been apart. 

When Pharaoh heard about it he was pleased, 
and told them to take wagons and anything else they 
needed, and bring up from Canaan their father and 
all their wives and children to live in Egypt. The 
brothers were full of wonder at Joseph that he was not 
angry at them, but he only said, 

"Oh, it was not you that sent me down here, but 
God. He put me here and is showing me how to take 
care of these people, and now He has sent you to me, 
too, so that I may help you. So go quickly and bring 
them all to live near me here in the land of Goshen." 

Jacob could hardly believe it when he heard that 
Joseph was alive, and he came with joy to see him. 
He gave Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph's two boys, 
his blessing before he died, and two of the tribes of 
Isreal are named for these two boys. 



X 

THE BABY IN A BOAT 

MANY years passed by, and a very different sight 
was to be seen in Egypt from that of Joseph's 
time. His brothers' families had settled all the land 
of Goshen — the eastern part of Egypt. 

Then a different king came to rule over the coun- 
try, one who did not love Joseph's people, and the 
welcome visitors had become servants. Joseph had died, 
and there was no one to speak well for them. 

This new Pharaoh hated them because they were a 
strong, fine people, always rich. There were now many 
hundreds of them, and the Egyptians were afraid that 
soon the Israelites might go to war against them. 

So they forced them to make bricks. Pharaoh 
had them build him two great cities and many monu- 
ments. 

Still the hard work did not kill them or make 
them weak, but only stronger. Their children all lived 
to grow up, so that the Egyptians got together to talk 
about what they could do, for they were afraid there 
might soon be more Israelites than Egyptians in the land. 

46 



THE BABY IN A BOAT 47 

Then Pharaoh sent out an order to kill all the 
boys when they were babies so that they could not grow 
l up to fight. But the servants did not always obey. 

This was the case in a house where the father and 
mother both belonged to the family of Levi, which was 
now very large. This father and mother had a little 
son born to them, which they decided to hide so that 
he would not be killed. 

When he grew too big a baby to be hidden longer 
in the house, the mother made carefully a tiny covered 
boat of the long rushes that grew by the river. Then 
she covered all the little cracks and holes with thick 
mud and pitch which would not let the water through. 

Then she laid the baby in it, and put it afloat 
among the plants that grew at the edge of the water. 
The baby's sister hid in the bushes and watched to see 
that nothing happened to him. 

Down the stone steps came a beautiful princess 
followed by her ladies-in-waiting. She was coming to 
this quiet place to bathe in the river. 

Suddenly she saw the strange little boat, and sent 
one of her maids to see what it could possibly be. 

When they opened it before her, the baby began 
to cry, and she was sorry for it. She saw that it was 
one of the Israelite children, and she knew her father 



48 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

had given the order to kill them. But she was pleased 
with this one and thought she would take it for her 
own. 

The little sister stepped out and said, "Shall I 
call a Hebrew nurse to take care of the baby?" 

"Yes, go," said Pharaoh's daughter. 

So the baby Moses was taken by his own mother 
and cared for until he was old enough to go to the palace. 

Moses grew up at the palace, waited upon like 
a king's son. One day he was out walking near the 
cities that the Israelites were building, and he saw how 
unfair and cruel the masters were to his own people. 

As he stood and looked he saw one of the Egyp- 
tians strike an Israelite. He looked around him a 
minute, then rushed upon the Egyptian, killed him, 
and hid his body in the sand. 

The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews 
fighting. He tried to make peace between them, but 
they were angry, and one said: 

"Do you want to kill me the way you did that 
Egyptian yesterday?" Then Moses knew that the 
thing he had done was known to everybody, and he 
ran away far into the land of Midian. 

Moses thought he was far away from any troubles 
about right and wrong, that he need worry no longer 



THE BABY IN A BOAT 49 

about his people. He led a peaceful life in the desert, 
shut away from hearing of the cruelty of the Egyptians. 

He had come to live with a kind old priest named 
Jethro. He married the priest's daughter and took 
care of Jethro's sheep, driving them about to good 
pastures. 

One day he had led his sheep near a mountain 
called Horeb. Suddenly he noticed a strange bush on 
the mountain that seemed to be on fire, but no burn- 
ing branch fell off, and, though he watched it for a long 
time, it did not burn up. 

He came near, and still the bright beautiful flames 
played about; then there came a voice calling his name: 

"Moses, come no nearer. Take off your shoes, for 
this is a holy place where you are standing. " 

Then God explained to Moses that he was to be 
the one to save the Israelites from the cruelty of the 
Egyptians. 

But Moses did not want to go. He told God a 
great many reasons why he was not the kind of man 
God needed. 

But God said, "Go, Moses, and I will be with you. 
That is enough/' 

Then Moses found another reason why he was 
not fit. 



50 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

"They will not believe a word I say. They will 
say, 'What is the name of this God who sends you?' " 

Then in great, wonderful words God told Moses 
His name, "Jehovah," which word of the Hebrew lan- 
guage means "I Am." 

"Go tell my people, Moses, that I Am hath sent 
you." 

This name, which reminded him that God could 
do everything and was greater than any earthly king, 
ought to have* made Moses know that there was noth- 
ing for him to be afraid of in Egypt or wherever God 
sent him. 

But still Moses waited, asking God for some sign 
that would show everybody that the Lord had truly 
talked with him. 

So God told him to throw down the staff he was 
carrying. When it touched the ground it became a 
wriggling snake. 

"Now put out your hand and pick it up, Moses," 
and Moses took hold of its tail and it became only a 
stick again. 

Then he was told to put his hand inside the fold 
of his robe at the neck. When he drew it out it was 
snow-white, as men look when they have that awful 
sickness called leprosy. 



THE BABY IN A BOAT 51 

God told him to put it in again, and this time he 
found it rosy and well again. 

Moses by this time understood a little better what 
God meant when he promised to go with him back 
to the country where everyone hated him. He w r as 
going to make him strong where he was now weak, and 
as wise as he was slow and stupid now. 

And yet Moses had one more excuse to bring to 
the Lord. 

"Surely you know, Lord, that I am slow of speech 
— that I cannot talk in public because my tongue stam- 
mers and will not make the words fast enough. How 
could such a man lead those thousands of people and 
speak before kings?" 

He found that God had prepared his way here, 
too; for Aaron, his brother, who talked well and easily, 
was to be sent with Moses, to say whatever Moses 
should tell him. 

So, though he still did not want to very much, 
Moses started out for Egypt. 



XI 

GOD'S POWER SHOWN TO PHARAOH 

JUST as Moses had feared, the Israelites would hardly 
believe God's great plan for them. 

When Moses went to speak to Pharaoh, he asked 
him if he might take the Israelites a three days' journey 
out into the wild places to the east of them, so that 
they might sacrifice to their God. But Pharaoh would 
not consider the plan. He grew very angry that they 
wished to go. 

"Have they not enough work to do," he cried, 
"that they think of taking a vacation! Tell their over- 
seers to give them more work. Let them find the straw 
for making the bricks and still make as many every 
day as they did before!" 

This new law made life twice as hard for the 
Israelites and they began to grumble at Moses and to 
say that he had not come to help, but to hurt, them. 
So both the Egyptians and the Hebrews hated him. 

Moses took his troubles to God. 

"Now, Moses, you shall see what I will do to 
Pharaoh, for he will not only let them go, but he will 



52 



GOD'S POWER SHOWN TO PHARAOH 53 

drive them out. I am the Lord, Jehovah. Abraham 
and Isaac knew Me as God Almighty, but they did 
not know the great strength of Jehovah. Now I have 
made a promise to them to give them the beautiful 
land of Canaan, and I will do it." 

When Moses heard this promise again he hurried 
to remind the Israelites of it. But they were so tired 
with their heavy work that they were angry with Moses 
and would not listen. 

Then he went to Pharaoh, asking him again to 
let the people go. This time he showed him the wonder- 
ful rod which turned into a snake. By some trick the 
magicians of the king's court appeared to turn their 
rods to snakes also, but Moses' snake ate them all up, 
and it became a rod again. 

Still Pharaoh refused, so, as God had told him to, 
Moses lifted his rod and struck the water of the river, 
where Pharaoh and all his servants could see. Sud- 
denly between the rich beautiful green of its banks 
the Nile river flowed along a heavy dark red stream 
of blood. 

Of course no one could drink of such water, and 
the fish that had lived in the river died. 

Pharaoh's magicians then tried their tricks and 
managed to make it look as though they had done 



54 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

the same. When the king saw this, he did not soften 
his heart toward Moses and allow the people to go, but 
was instead angry at him, for there was no water to 
drink anywhere in the country for a week. 

Then God said to Moses: 

"Go and tell Pharaoh that if he will not let the 
Israelites go I will send frogs into the land everywhere. 
They shall go into the houses, into the beds and the 
ovens and the food that the cooks are preparing. " 

But Pharaoh would not give up. So, of course, the 
frogs came by the hundreds and thousands. Then the 
king called for Moses and Aaron: 

"Beg of the Lord your God, I pray you, that the 
frogs may be taken away from here, and tomorrow the 
people may go away to sacrifice." 

Pharaoh made this promise, but as soon as the 
frogs were gone he made his heart hard again, and he 
would not let them go. 

So God had to send him another trouble. Moses 
stretched out his rod, and all the little particles of dust 
became lice, crawling about on everything and every- 
body. 

Then came flies, great swarms of them, in all the 
houses, annoying all the people. Only in Goshen — 
that part where the Israelites lived — there were no flies. 



GOD'S POWER SHOWN TO PHARAOH 55 

Pharaoh gave in and said that the people might 
go, but this promise only lasted until the flies and lice 
were gone. 

So things went on. God would send a terrible 
plague to the people, Pharaoh would be willing to have 
the Israelites go, as long as he was suffering. As soon 
as it was taken away, however, he refused again to 
let them go. 

There was a terrible disease which killed many 
of the cattle; there was a disease of boils sent to the 
people; then a thunder and hail storm which destroyed 
the grain in the fields; then the insect which the Egyp- 
tians dreaded most, an army of locusts which ate every 
tree or plant in their way; and after that a great dark- 
ness through all the land except in Goshen. 

After all these things Moses went down to Goshen 
and gathered his people together and said to them: 

"This is God's word to you. Now the time has 
come for you to escape, for God is going to send death 
as a last punishment unto Egypt. The oldest son of 
every Egyptian house shall die. But those in the 
Israelites' houses shall live, for they shall have God's 
sign over their doors. 

"This is the way for you to put it there. Every 
family shall kill a lamb, which is to be eaten as a solemn 



56 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

feast on a certain night. The blood from this lamb 
you must sprinkle over your door, so that the Death 
Angel shall see the mark and pass over that house. 

"That night there will be great sorrow in Egypt. 
In your houses each family will be eating the feast, 
with their goods packed, themselves all dressed for 
going on the long journey out of Egypt." 

So the Israelites this time believed Moses and did 
as they were told. God kept His promise and sent the 
Death Angel into Egypt, but he passed over the Israel- 
ites' homes, and they slipped quietly out of Egypt that 
night. The Jews celebrate that night from that day 
to this and it is called the Passover. 



XII 

OUT OF EGYPT 

A GREAT army of hundreds of thousands of 
people, walking, riding in wagons, driving with 
them cows or sheep, carrying heavy bags over their 
shoulders — so went the Israelites, men, women and chil- 
dren, until every house in Goshen was silent and empty. 

In the king's court, guards came to tell that these 
people were going, but there was a great sound of weep- 
ing and wailing there. The oldest son of Pharaoh was 
dead, and it was soon known that a son from every 
house had died that night. 

When word came that the slave-people who had 
done all their work for them had actually gone, the 
king and soldiers rose up in anger and vowed to find 
these people who were making all this trouble by means 
of their God. They would kill some of them, and bring 
back the rest to wait upon them again. 

So it was not long before the Israelites saw this 
great army coming toward them. On one side was the 
Red Sea, on the other came Pharaoh and all his chosen 
fighters, and the Israelites cried out to Moses: 

57 



58 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

"Did you think there were not enough graves in 
Egypt that you have brought us out here to die?" 

But Moses said: 

"Wait, just stand still and see how God will save 
you. He will fight for you, you need only to be quiet." 

Then the great pillar of cloud which was God's 
angel moved from His place in front of them, and stood 
between them and the advancing army all night, so 
that the Egyptians could not see, but it was a bright 
light to the Israelites. 

According to God's command Moses put out his 
rod over the sea, and a strong east wind blowing steadily 
all night piled the waters up into a huge wall on each 
side of a dry smooth path. The Israelites marched 
on through between the walls of water, and they sang 
a mighty thanksgiving song when they reached the 
other side, for when the Egyptians tried to follow the 
waters closed over their heads and swallowed them up. 

Their song is printed in the fifteenth chapter of 
Exodus (the book which tells the story of their going, 
out): 

"I will sing unto the Lord, 

For He hath triumphed gloriously: 
The horse and his rider 

Hath He thrown into the sea." 



XIII 

THE GOLDEN CALF 

SAFELY out of the land of their troubles, with 
God always present with them in the pillar of 
fire and cloud, it would have seemed that the Israelites 
would march straight through the desert into the land 
of Canaan which God had promised them would be so 
rich that they called it "flowing with milk and honey/ ' 

But they acted like naughty little children. Every 
time anything happened to annoy them, instead of 
trusting God to make it right, they began to be cross 
and say they were sorry they ever left Egypt. Often 
their complaining made it necessary for them to have 
to go a much longer way than they would have other- 
wise. 

Whenever they grew angry and behaved badly God 
saw that they were not ready to go into the Promised 
Land, and, like a really kind father, He had to send 
them some punishment to teach them to obey and 
trust Him. 

Once when they came to a camp, tired and thirsty 
with the hot traveling, they found that the water in 

59 



60 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

the stream was so bitter that they could not drink it. 
Without thinking of God they began to complain to 
Moses. God had a cure for the bitterness and let Moses 
make the water sweet for them, but the next time that 
something unpleasant happened they did not remem- 
ber to speak to God about it. 

When they grew tired of the poor food they could 
find in the wilderness, God sent them a beautiful rain 
of little white cakes that came like frost on the ground 
every morning except Sunday. Enough always fell the 
day before so that they could save the Sunday portion. 
Then later He sent them flocks of birds so that they 
might have meat when they were tired of "Manna," 
as they called the cakes. 

Even the time when God came nearest to them they 
forgot Him and went to play instead of waiting to 
hear what He had to say to them. This was the time 
when God called Moses up into the cloud-covered 
Mount Sinai to give him the laws for the people, 
written upon tables of stone by God's own finger. 

The people had been told to wait at the foot of the 
mountain while God talked to Moses. But instead 
of a quiet, solemn meeting, they brought all their rings 
and gold chains to Aaron, and he made for them a 
golden calf such as they had seen the people pray to in 



THE GOLDEN CALF 61 

Egypt. They sang and danced and feasted and said, 
"This calf is the god that brought us out of Egypt !" 

The first law God had made for them was: 

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou 
shalt not bow down to them or serve them." 

All the time that they were breaking this law by 
making a calf their god, their Heavenly Father was 
giving Moses greater promises for these people than 
ever before. He looked down and saw them praying 
to this calf and forgetting Him. 

Moses, coming down from the mountains full of 
the memory of God's words, saw this awful thing and 
in his anger threw down the tables of stone and broke 
them. He ground to powder the golden calf, mixed 
it with water, and made the people drink it. 

Then he went to speak to God again, and was 
given the laws once more — but this time not written 
down by God's finger — and he was told exactly how 
to make a place where the people might come to wor- 
ship God. It was to have a rough stone altar for the 
sacrifices and a very sacred place curtained off where 
God would come to live among His people. But no one 
might ever go in there but the High Priest once a year. 
For there was the ark of the Lord where they kept the 
Tables of the Law and where God's Presence stayed. 



62 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

When Moses went this time to talk with the Lord 
the people stood each one at his own tent door, 
ashamed. After this they learned to worship in their 
" tabernacle' ? — this tent church which was made so that 
it could be carried with them in their wanderings. 

It was made of the most beautiful things the people 
had, as carefully worked and put together as they could 
do. Now they brought their gold and silver as gifts to 
God and no longer to make strange idols. 



XIV 

A CLUSTER OF GRAPES 

WHEN after many years the people of Israel at 
last came to the borders of the Promised Land, 
they sent over into the country twelve men as spies 
to see what sort of land it was and how strong were 
the people. For God had told they they must kill the 
people who now lived there, so that they would not 
become like these heathen, and grow into the habit 
of worshiping their gods instead of Jehovah. 

There was a great stir among the people when 
Caleb and Joshua and the other spies came back, for 
they had brought home with them an immense bunch 
of grapes, so large that it had to be hung on a stick 
and carried across the shoulders of two men. 

Then there was silence in the great congregation 
to hear more about this rich country. But when they 
heard that there were great walled-in cities full of strong 
fighting men, they were afraid. All that night the sound 
of crying came from every tent. 

"Alas, we can never go into that land and conquer 

63 



64 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

those people! They are strong and we are weak. We 
shall all be killed. We might have stayed in Egypt !" 

Then Caleb and Joshua stood up, full of the Spirit 
of the Lord, and said: 

"This is truly a good land, given us by the Lord. 
Let us go up at once and take it. If God means what 
He has promised, then surely He will defend us — if 
we only do not turn against Him." 

But the people said, "Let us select a captain of 
our own and turn around and go back to Egypt !" 

Then God's word came to Moses: 

"They have utterly disobeyed me again, and have 
not trusted Me at all! For this reason they must turn 
about and wander through the wilderness for forty years 
longer, because they are not strong enough to take 
this land if they have not yet learned to believe in Me. 
No one of those men who was afraid shall ever see the 
Promised Land. But they shall die in the wilderness. 
Their children and my two servants Caleb and Joshua 
shall come into Canaan, and live there and enjoy it!" 

So they turned back and spent forty years learn- 
ing the lesson that they were never strong without God, 
but that no one could conquer them if He were with 
them. 

Once more they were tested this same way. Poison- 



A CLUSTER OF GRAPES 65 

ous snakes had come into the camp, biting many of the 
people, making them very sick. God told Moses to 
make a snake out of brass and lift it up high upon a 
pole. Everyone who was willing to look to that was 
cured. If they did not believe enough in God's power 
to be willing to look up and be saved, then they must 
die. 

Jesus himself told this story again when He came 
to earth, and He showed the people how this was a 
picture of what He had done. He put on Himself a 
body like ours that can do wrong and was lifted up 
upon a cross, so that anyone who was willing to look to 
Him and trust in Him could be saved, and need not 
die of the snake-bite of sin which was in our blood since 
the time when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. 

5 



XV 

A CITY THROWN DOWN BY MUSIC 

WHEN the forty years of punishment were over 
the Israelites came again near to the borders 
of the Promised Land. They had learned more about 
trusting their God than their fathers had known when 
they were afraid to go into Canaan. They were now 
ready for whatever should come. 

Joshua, who had been the young spy sent into 
Canaan forty years ago, was now to be their leader, for 
Moses had died. 

God had now begun to speak to Joshua: 

And He said: "As I was with Moses so I will be 
with you, Joshua. I will never fail you. Only you 
must be strong and very courageous, and do not turn 
away from the things you have learned about trusting 
and obeying God. I will be with you all your life 
wherever you go." 

So, with these words to give him strength, Joshua 
led the people into the new land. The women and 
children and the tents and goods of the people were to 



A CITY THROWN DOWN BY MUSIC 67 

stay on the wilderness side of Jordan until the fighting 
men should have conquered the land and made it safe. 

As they started out on their long journey of battles 
God gave them an amazing sign that He was going to 
fight with them. 

As they brought the ark of the Lord down to the 
edge of the Jordan River the waters rose up to make 
a dry path for the priests who carried it, just as the 
waters of the Red Sea had done when the people came 
out of Egypt. This wonder was heard of throughout 
the whole land, and many of the heathen people were 
afraid because of the God of these strangers who were 
coming in. 

Then the priests and the fighting men started 
toward Jericho. Its gates were all shut and no one 
was allowed to go in or out, on account of the strange 
army moving toward it. 

The first morning, as the people of Jericho looked 
out, they saw a strange sight. First, seven priests 
blowing trumpets, then a box carefully carried by more 
priests, then forty thousand fighting men — solemnly 
marching around the city wall. There was great ex- 
citement inside the city, for this was not the way that 
a battle was usually begun. When they had gone all 
the way around the city they went quietly back to their 



68 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

camp and stayed all day. Exactly the same thing 
happened early in the morning next day. 

When this had gone on for six days, and no fight- 
ing done, the people inside the city settled down, think- 
ing that either the army was crazy or trying to show off. 

But the seventh morning Joshua's men did a little 
differently. They marched around the city seven times, 
and the seventh time there came a very long blast from 
the trumpets, and Joshua said to his men: 

"Shout, foir God has given you this city!" 

The forty thousand men shouted and the trumpets 
blew. Suddenly with a mighty crash the walls of Jericho 
fell down, and the army of Israel marched in. Accord- 
ing to God's orders they utterly destroyed it, and all 
of the people, except one household who had helped 
the spies whom Joshua sent. 

This was the first of many victories which God 
gave to Joshua and the army of Israel. They did not 
always win their battles, for sometimes they disobeyed 
Him and thought they knew best what to do. Then 
He did not help them. But if they came back to trust- 
ing everything to Him He would turn their defeats 
into victory in wonderful ways. Once He made the 
sun and moon stand still at Joshua's word, so that the 
day might be a little longer and the Israelites might win. 



XVI 

A FIGHT WITH LAMPS, PITCHERS, 
AND TRUMPETS 

WHEN the land of Canaan was finally conquered 
and divided among the twelve tribes, they set- 
tled down and lived in peace for about forty years. 

Then they began to take up the idols of the people 
around them, thinking that they had grown beyond 
the old worship of only one God. They set up altars 
to Baal under the trees and in high places, and it became 
more fashionable to worship there than to build altars 
to Jehovah. 

Then they began to hear stories about a fierce 
people to the south of them — the Midianites — coming 
up to make war upon them. Of course they knew that 
Baal could not help in a case like this, so they criec^ 
to the Lord to help them. 

It was springtime and the Midianites came up 
and destroyed all their crops and stole their cattle, and 
were so many in number that the Israelites ran away 
into caves to hide from them. 

Up in Manasseh, a strong young man, named 

69 



70 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

Gideon, was threshing out wheat, hiding it carefully 
from the enemy. A stranger came and said to him: 

"God is with you, Gideon, you are to save Israel 
from these Midianites." 

"But how can I do that?" asked Gideon. "I am 
just one of the sons in a poor family.' ' 

"Surely God will be with you, and you shall do 
it!" 

Then Gideon asked the stranger for a sign that 
would show this was a message from God. And he 
brought out food for the stranger and set it on a rock. 
The man struck the rock with his staff and fire came 
up and burnt all the food that Gideon put there. Then 
he knew that this was an angel from God. 

That very night God told Gideon that he must 
tear down the altar of Baal which stood in his father's 
grove and build there an altar to Jehovah and burn 
a sacrifice upon it. So Gideon did this, but he had to 
work at night so that no one would see and stop him. 

Early in the morning some men of the city came 
in angrily and said to Joash, Gideon's father: 

"Bring out your son, we will kill him! He has 
cut down the altar to Baal!" 

But Joash said to them, "Why should you plead 
for Baal? If he is really a god, will he not save himself?" 



A FIGHT 71 

Then Gideon went out and blew a trumpet, and 
gathered together all the men of the neighboring tribes 
to battle, about thirty-two thousand, to go up together 
to fight against the Midianites. 

But God said to Gideon, "That is too big an 
army. Go and send back all that are afraid/' 

Twenty-two thousand men said they were afraid 
and went back home. But still God said there were too 
many. 

So Gideon took the ten thousand that were left 
down to the river side to drink. Some of them got 
down on their knees and leaned over to drink. These 
were sent home, for a real soldier will not waste that 
much time when he is going to battle. But three hun- 
dred of them passed this test, for each of these men 
brought up the water in his hand, and was ready to 
run ahead immediately. 

Then Gideon gave to each of these three hundred 
a pitcher and a lamp and a trumpet. With these 
strange weapons they started bravely toward the camp 
of the Midianites. 

Toward nightfall Gideon and a servant crept 
quietly up to the camp and overheard what was being 
said in one of the tents. 

One man said, "Last night I dreamed a barley 



72 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

cake rolled down the hill and knocked a tent down 
flat." 

The other answered, "Do you know that must 
mean those Israelites up yonder on the hill? They 
must be going to conquer us." 

Gideon and his servant hurried back to tell this, 
and he started his men out with their trumpets, lamps 
and pitchers. 

In the middle of the night there suddenly appeared 
lights all around the Midianites camp, trumpets blew, 
and all the three hundred pitchers were broken at once. 
Then great shouts — "The sword of the Lord and of 
Gideon!" 

The sudden noise and light made the enemy think 
that there was a great host come into their camp. They 
rushed about, killing one another in their excitement 
and running away from the Israelites. 

So there was great victory again for God's people. 
They made Gideon their captain as long as he lived. 



XVII 

A VOICE IN THE NIGHT 

AS LONG as the Israelites had much fighting to 
do;- they appointed a captain for their armies, 
and had no other ruler. After Gideon came Jephthah, 
then Samson, the man of great strength and size. These 
captains of the army would settle disputes which might 
arise between the tribes, and so came to be called judges. 

After the time of Samson there was born in the 
tribe of Ephraim a little boy. His father, Elkanah, 
and his mother, Hannah, were both people who loved 
God. They came regularly to the place of worship in 
Shiloh. 

One day when their little boy Samuel was old 
enough to leave his home they brought him up to 
Shiloh with them, and at the solemn meeting there 
they gave him to God. They left him there to live in 
the temple to grow up learning to obey God, so that 
some day he might serve Him in whatever way God 
called him. 

Samuel was a good boy and old Eli the priest 
of the temple grew*to love him as if he were his own 

73 



74 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

son. Eli had two sons of his own, but they were not 
like Samuel. Eli had not been a good father to them, 
for he had not punished them enough when they were 
little. Now they had grown into selfish men, who served 
as priests in the temple, but continually made fun of 
the sacred things. They went with people that were 
bad, and often Eli found them drunken with wine. 

The good people of Israel felt very sorry that 
Hophni and Phineas should be allowed to serve in 
the temple, but none of them dared say anything to Eli. 

One night when the lights were dim in the temple, 
and the Levites' evening hymn was over, Eli was pray- 
ing alone before the altar. Little Samuel had gone to 
bed, but he heard a voice calling, "Samuel, Samuel !" 

He listened a minute, then slipped out on to the 
bare stone floor and came into the great dim temple 
room. 

"My father, here I am. I heard you call!" Eli 
looked surprised, for he had not called, and said: 

"No, I did not call. Go lie down again. " 

Samuel had hardly gotten into his bed again, when 
he heard the voice, echoing through the empty rooms. 
"Samuel, Samuel!" 

He came and stood by Eli again: 

"My father here am I, you called me." 



A VOICE IN THE NIGHT 75 

"No, my son," answered Eli, "I did not call." 

Slowly Samuel went to his bed again, not under- 
standing why Eli had said he did not call. 

When the call came the third time Samuel went 
to Eli, determined to find out: 

"My father, truly you called me this time." 

Eli smiled as he looked at the boy, for he began to 
understand that it was God calling, and he said to him: 

"Go lie down again, and if He calls, answer Him, 
'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.' " 

So Samuel listened, and when God's call came 
again, he answered as he had been told, and God gave 
him a message to take to Eli. Samuel lay still until 
morning. 

As he was going about his morning duties, open- 
ing the doors of the temple, Eli called him and asked 
what the Lord's message had been. Samuel bravely 
told him all of it: 

"God says that your family is judged by Him and 
condemned and no sacrifice can ever make clean the 
wickedness of your two sons, or your own sin that you 
did not stop them from doing such things." 

Not long after this Hophni and Phineas were killed 
in battle. The ark of the Lord too was stolen by the 
enemy. That meant that God's presence was taken 



76 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

away from Israel. Eli knew that these things had 
come because he had done wrong, and in his shame and 
sorrow he fell down dead. 

But Samuel grew up in the knowledge of God and 
judged Israel until he was an old man. 

During SamuePs life as judge over Israel there 
were constant wars between the Israelites and the Philis- 
tines. It was these people who had taken the ark of 
the Lord just before Eli's death. They had not been 
able to keep it; disease and death came upon the people, 
and all their false gods fell down before it and broke. 
When the ark was returned, the Israelites said solemnly 
to God that they were sorry for their wickedness, and 
would no more worship false gods. 

As Samuel grew old they came to him and asked 
him to select a king for them. AH the nations around 
them had kings, and they wished to have one. 

So Samuel anointed with oil a young man named 
Saul, tall and strong and a good fighter. Samuel tried 
to teach him the way of the Lord, but Saul after a 
little while went his own way. Although he still reigned 
for many years, Samuel told him that God had chosen 
someone else to take his place, and that because he 
had not obeyed, the kingdom might not pass on to 
Saul's son, but must go to another. 



XVIII 

DAVID 

THERE was a great stir and excitement in the 
little town of Bethlehem that was usually so quiet. 
A messenger came down the street calling, "Hearken, 
all ye people, hearken!" When he stood in the market- 
place the townspeople ran down the narrow streets or 
opened their windows to hear the great news, and all 
the children gathered round him. In a clear voice he 
spoke: 

"Be it known to you this day that Samuel, wise 
Judge of Israel, will come to visit Bethlehem. Prepare 
ye then to meet him!" 

As the people cheered with joy the messenger 
slipped away. Then they looked at one another and 
forgot their joy in fear, for Samuel often came with 
words of rebuke for those who had sinned. They all 
began to think of what their lives had been, and they 
were afraid, for everyone remembered something he had 
done that was not quite right in the eyes of the Lord, 
and it was known that Jehovah spoke through the 
lips of Samuel. So they all went home to make ready 

77 



78 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

for his coming, wondering who would have the honor 
of having him to dinner and who might lodge him over 
night. They prepared their best clothes and made their 
houses as beautiful as they might and tried to live in 
the way of God. 

Now there was one house in the village, the house 
of Jesse, where it was supposed by all the people that 
Samuel would lodge. Jesse had eight fine sons, some 
of them old enough to be in the army if there should 
be a war. They were handsome and all very tall, except 
David, the youngest, whose duty it was to tend the 
sheep on the hills outside the village. David was still 
only a boy, but he hoped to grow like his brothers, 
especially Eliab, the oldest, who was the tallest man 
in all the country round. It was thought that Eliab 
might even be nearly the height of Saul the King of 
their country Israel, who stood head and shoulders 
above most men. 

At last the great day came when Samuel was 
brought down the main street of the village in a car 
carried by four men. The children watched him 
eagerly as he directed his men to go on to the house of 
Jesse. He was an old man with hair and beard like 
snow, but his eyes were very bright, and he smiled at 
the children in a way that they remembered. They 




©D.MSK 



DAVID BEFORE KING SAUL 

" David sang : ' The Lord is my shepherd.' ' 



DAVID 79 

followed gladly when they were invited to come with 
all the people to look into the courtyard where Jesse 
stood among his sons. The mother was there and 
bowed before the Judge who honored them by his com- 
ing. But David was not there. Of course someone 
must tend the sheep, so he had risen at sunrise, and 
gone out a mile or two to the pasture. He was now 
doing his best to forget the excitement at home by try- 
ing to hit a mark on a distant tree with stones from 
the brook, fitted into a sling that he had made. 

Meantime, Samuel, after offering an animal upon 
the altar as a sacrifice to God, arose and told Jesse 
and all the people that God needed a young man to do 
a certain piece of work for Him. "I have been sent 
here to find a man after God's own heart/' he said. 

So Jesse proudly brought forward Eliab, and 
Samuel smiled, for he was good to look upon. But 
he must ask God first. "No, it is not Eliab," he said 
after a little silence. A whisper of surprise went round 
among the people, for God does not look at a man's 
face, but upon his heart. 

Jesse called his second son, Abinadab, but God 
said to Samuel, "Not this one." Then each one of 
the others came out in turn, and it was found that 
none of them would do. 



80 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

"Are these all of your sons, Jesse? Have you no 
other?" asked Samuel. 

"I have a boy out in the field tending sheep. But 
surely God has not called him. He is only a child/ } 
But he sent someone to bring David. 

The people, weary with waiting, had most of them 
gone home when David came into the courtyard before 
Samuel. His shepherd's staff was in his hand and his 
face was flushed with the warm sun. As Samuel looked 
upon him he knew that here was the one that God had 
sent him to find. So he talked and prayed a little with 
David, and then he poured upon his head a few drops 
of oil which God had told him to set aside for that pur- 
pose. Then God's Spirit came upon David and he was 
happier than he had ever been before. It was almost 
as if God talked with him face to face, he told his mother 
in the evening. 

He did not know yet what the work would be 
which God had called him to do, but in the long days 
on the hillside where he went on watching the sheep 
he would often talk to God. In this way God spoke 
many things to his heart, and David grew to under- 
stand His way and what He wanted men to do. 

Often out there he would sing old, old songs of 
Israel that his mother had taught him. Sometimes 



DAVID 81 

he made up words of his own. The hills were green 
and smooth and they rounded down to the brook which 
wound about their feet. It talked along softly in the 
dark places under the willows, and then it laughed aloud 
in the sunshine where it ran over the stones. It seemed 
easy to find words to sing to God in that quiet place. 

On the other side of the brook was a rock, full of 
a great quiet strength. Sometimes when it had not 
rained for a long time and the brooks were dried up 
the littlest lambs got very thirsty. Then out from 
this rock there came a cool spring slipping down. Once 
when this happened David wrote a song about it. 
He called God his Rock, for he could rest in His shadow 
and said that he longed for Him as one longs for water 
in a dry and thirsty land. His mother liked that song 
and often asked him to sing it. His brothers would 
tease him then and tell him he would never be a man, 
that he was now old and strong enough to fight and 
not to sing. These words troubled him, and he would 
sit and look at the dark woods in the distance and wish 
that he might have a chance to do something great. 

One day he drove his sheep to a pasture nearer 
the woods than they had ever been before. Then he 
sat down on a stone nearby. Suddenly he heard the 
lambs begin to cry in a frightened way, and he saw a 

6 



82 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

big animal coming toward them to catch and eat them. 
He did not quite know whether it was a lion or a bear, 
for he had never seen either so near before. But he 
jumped down with a bound right on to it, praying as 
he ran. He pulled and tore at its hair and then caught 
it by the throat and quickly choked it to death before 
it could reach the sheep, who were scattered to this side 
and that, very much afraid. As he turned to find them 
he saw that one of the baby lambs was caught in a 
thick bush down a steep part of the hillside where it 
had fallen in trying to run away. David scrambled 
down as far as he could, and then with the crook of 
his shepherd's staff he was able to reach the lamb and 
pull it up to safety. He soon found the other sheep 
and took them to a safer pasture. But this one he 
carried all the way, for its little heart still beat quite 
fast and frightened against his arm. 

As he sat down again to watch by the sheep, it 
came to him how God had saved him from the paw of 
the lion just as he had been able to save his sheep. It 
was as though he had reached down from heaven with 
the rod and staff of a shepherd and pulled him out of 
danger. The more he thought, the more he saw how 
God was his shepherd, leading him to the greenest pas- 
tures and finding quiet waters for him to drink from. 



DAVID 83 

"I will sing a song," he said aloud. "I will sing 
my praise to the Lord my shepherd." But he saw that 
the sun was going down and there was no more time 
that night to put together the words of his song. 

All the way home he kept thinking of the ways 
God leads. He did not know that just tomorrow God 
would bring him to a new way. 

When he reached home that night he found three 
strangers there, men from the king's court. They had 
heard of Jesse and his sons, and after the evening meal 
they asked David to sing. He felt half afraid of his 
brothers' teasing words, but he brought his harp and 
sat down by his mother. 

First he sang the old songs. One was the song 
that Miriam sang when God had brought the people 
out of danger. "Sing ye to the Lord," it begins. And 
then he sang a prayer of Moses. Then, because his 
mother asked, he sang his own song of praise to God 
"As the hart panteth after the water brooks." 

When he had finished the men thanked him and 
asked his father if the boy might come with them to 
the palace of Saul the King. 

"But what could David do in a palace, my lords? 
He has no manners but those he has learned from the 
sheep." 



84 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

"Have you not heard?" asked the oldest of the 
men, "Saul our King, as you know, was once a young 
man in whom the Spirit of the Lord lived even as in 
your David. He obeyed God and ruled the people 
wisely and was happy. But he began to think about 
himself, and refused to walk in God's way. So the 
Spirit of the Lord went away, and an evil spirit came 
into the empty place where God had lived. Now Saul 
is always unhappy. Some days he will not eat and 
cannot sleep and is cross to everyone around him. He 
is suffering now from this evil spirit, and we want your 
boy to come and sing to him and perhaps quiet him." 

"Of course he may go, and I hope he will please 
the King and help to make him well," answered Jesse. 

So, early next morning, they started on their way, 
bringing gifts for the King. 

When they reached Jerusalem David was very 
eager over all the sights of the city and almost forgot 
that he was going to see the King. But they hurried 
him on to the palace. 

He wondered at the many great rooms there. In 
one room he was given his lunch, a beautiful feast fit 
for the King served by many slaves upon gold and silver 
dishes. There was more than enough of everything. 

Then he was taken to other servants who pre- 



DAVID 85 

pared him in spicy baths and silks and a rich leopard 
skin to be fit to enter the presence of the King. There 
was a great hurry everywhere and men gave orders in 
cross voices. David thought that he would have sung 
far better if he might have come fresh from the hillside. 
But, of course, that would never do before a king. 

Then they brought him into a small room with 
great marble pillars and heavy silken curtains making 
a doorway into a larger room. The big room was dark 
and very still except for the quick, heavy breathing of 
some one there. No one dared to go in until there came 
the command in a loud angry voice: 

"Bring hither the singer!" 

David went in alone. The King was sitting upon 
a marble chair with many beautiful things about him, 
but on his face an ugly look. His forehead was drawn 
into a frown and the corners of his mouth pulled down 
like those of a little boy who may not have any more 
candy. 

At first when David saw this look he was fright- 
ened, for Saul looked so much uglier than the lion who 
had tried to steal his sheep. But he remembered Jeho- 
vah; and instead of singing the old songs he began: 
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want!" 

The King did not seem to hear, but went on tear- 



86 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

ing at his robe, and sometimes pulling his own hair 
through the power of this evil spirit. Then David, 
looking around, began to be sorry for the King who 
had to sit in a dark room alone with an evil spirit, and 
not have God with him any more. He wanted to take 
him out to the hills and show him the things God put 
there for us to enjoy. 

He went over to the great dark curtains and slid 
them aside, letting in the sunlight. Then he began to 
play upon his harp in long smooth notes as much like 
the sound of his brook as his fingers could make them. 
He began to sing again, this time trying to bring his 
green pastures before the troubled eyes of the King. 

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, 
He leadeth me beside the still waters, 
He restoreth my soul — " 

Here he made the harp notes faster and light as 
raindrops, all bubbling like the sunny waters of the 
brook: 



a 



He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, 
For His name's sake!" 



The King was quieter now. It was a long time 



DAVID 87 

since anyone had said anything to him about the paths 
of right. 

Then David, remembering the lion yesterday, and 
the fearful King today, sang: 

"Yea, though I walk through the valley 
Of the shadow of Death 
I will fear no evil — " 

The music was louder now, and sounded almost 
like a march to go into battle: 



a 



For Thou art with me!" 

He stopped a little time on the word "Thou," as 
though he loved to say it, and the King leaned forward. 

Then David's mind went on and he seemed to 
see in a vision what God could do for him, and for Saul, 
and for the whole world. He told of the great happi- 
ness of knowing God: 

"My cup runneth over!" 

The music ended brightly and happily: 

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me 
All the days of my life, 
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord 
Forever!" 



88 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

The King had forgotten himself now, the self he 
had been thinking about for years, and he leaned for- 
ward and said to David: 

"Sing it again! Sing of the sheep and the grass 
and the water !" 

So David sang again; and many other songs he 
sang. One of them was the song that tells how it 
looks out in the country at night when the stars 
seem to sing about God, and the sun and moon tell 
of His glory. 

The King was pleased with David and had him 
stay with him many days and later come to live in the 
palace. Often Saul was very cross, ready to kill any- 
one who came in, and if David had not had the Spirit 
of the Lord living in him he would have been very much 
x afraid; but he knew God would take care of him. ^ 

He began to learn more than this too from God 
because he lived so close to him. As he sang to the King 
he began to understand that God was some day going 
to make him King — that here was the work God had 
called him to do on the day when Samuel poured the 
oil upon his head. But this did not make him proud, 
only ready to hear God's voice that he might be wise. 

The day came when Saul knew this too, when 
David, coming to play to him, saw in his hand a sharp 



DAVID 89 

javelin which Saul would throw to kill him, for he was 
jealous. But God saved David's life. 

On the day when David really became King he 
had a beautiful talk with God, when he was given the 
great PROMISE: the unfolding of the promise to 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. David did not see its 
meaning very clearly then. He could see it only as 
one sees a person at the top of the hill who is calling 
— just enough to tell who it is. But on climbing the 
hill and coming nearer the face is plainer. For God 
told him that in David's own family, at a time hundreds 
of years away, there should be a Son Who was also the 
Son of God, and Who should one day sit upon the throne 
of Israel. And this One should make all things right 
in the earth, and all people must come to God through 
him. 

So God blessed David with the greatest honor 
He could have given him, the. wonderful promise which 
God kept, and is still keeping today. 

David followed God closely and kept his part of 
the agreement for a great many years of his life as king. 

But when at last all the tribes were calling him 
king, and he had conquered many enemies, he began 
to grow rich and proud and selfish. 

Many times he sinned against God, but always 



90 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

was sorry afterward for his disobedience. Some of 
his beautiful Psalms sing of God's wonderful forgive- 
ness. 

"Happy is the man whose sin is covered! 

"Day and night God's hand was heavy upon me. 

"I said, I will confess my sin to Him, 

"And He forgave me the wickedness of it! 

"Be glad and shout for joy, all whose hearts are 
right with God!" 

David wished with all his heart that he might 
build a beautiful temple, for the House of God was not 
nearly as fine as the King's palace. But God would not 
let him do this, for he had been a man of war. So David 
spent the last years of his life in gathering together 
fine wood from Lebanon and gold and silver and other 
materials so that Solomon, his son, might be able to 
build it. 



XIX 

BUILDING GOD'S HOUSE 

WHEN Solomon came as king to the throne of 
Israel there was peace through all the land for 
the forty years that he ruled. 

Solomon knew the long stories of how his people 
had failed so many times when they had tried to live 
their lives right by their own strength alone. So when 
God told him to choose what gift he should be given 
Solomon did not ask to be made very rich, or famous, 
or that everyone should like him. He asked instead 
for wisdom. Now wisdom may not be learned in books 
as knowledge can. One may live a long life looking 
always for wisdom, and never finding so much as a 
feather from its wings. But God gives it to those who 
ask for it, even to a little child. 

So God gave Solomon this power of knowing right 
from wrong, and true things from false. The stories 
are many of Solomon as a wise and much loved judge 
over his people. 

The big work of Solomon's life was to build a 
beautiful House of God. He sent to a friend of his 

91 



92 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

father's, Hiram, King of Tyre, to order from him cedar 
and fir wood, for there grew nowhere such fine hard 
lumber for building. Hiram had also workmen skilled 
in overlaying instead of carving the wood with gold. 

Solomon made an agreement with Hiram to send 
these workmen and to float the wood down by the sea 
coast. In return for this Solomon promised to send 
Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat and twenty 
measures of oil every year. 

So for seven years the wood was sent from Tyre 
and Sidon, stones were cut and sent from the quarries; 
fine carvings were made of opening flowers and vines; two 
great angels were made out of olive wood and covered 
with gold; basins and all the dishes were made of brass; 
all these were prepared and finished ready for their places. 

When all was done each beam and partition was 
slipped silently into place without any sound of axe or 
hammer. 

The whole beautiful building gleamed in the sun- 
light as the people came up to it for their first service. 
They came into the wide outer court and waited as the 
priests set about burning the sacrifices. 

Solomon on his knees before the altar prayed to 
the Lord asking Him to bless the house he had built 
and to bless all the people who prayed in it. 



BUILDING GOD'S HOUSE 93 

A great cloud, like the cloudy pillar which had led 
the Israelites through the wilderness, came and filled 
the Holy of Holies, so that the people knew that God 
was there. No one came into this Holy Place, where 
the Ark of the Lord was, except the High Priest once 
a year, as God had commanded when the tent church 
was made in the wilderness. 

Solomon enjoyed the beauty of the temple for a 
long time, but he was growing to be a very rich king 
indeed. People heard of his greatness and came to see 
him and worshiped him. The Queen of Sheba came 
a long journey to see him and hear his judgments. 

All of these things, and a heathen wife he had 
married, turned Solomon's heart little by little away 
from God. He built altars to strange gods, even to 
Moloch, an awful god that the Ammonites had made, 
which was supposed to want little children thrown into 
the fire as a sacrifice to it. 

David had done wrong things, but he had never 
served any god but Jehovah. Now that Solomon had 
broken his end of the promise God could not let all 
of the great words come true which He had spoken to 
David and again to Solomon. For He had said, "I 
will give you this kingdom to be in your family for- 
ever, as long as you walk in my path.' 7 



94 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

Solomon had gone far out of it, so only two of the 
twelve tribes were given to his son, Rehoboam, at 
Solomon's death. The other ten tribes were ruled by 
Jereboam. But Jerusalem, the city where the Temple 
was built, still belonged to Rehoboam, and the great 
Promise of the Son of God to come was still given to 
the son of Solomon, but he neither knew nor cared 
much about it. He set to work instead to get back 
for himself the other ten tribes. 

Rehoboam's son carried on the same wars in his 
time, letting the people slip further and further away 
from a knowledge of God. But Asa, the next king, 
grandson of Rehoboam, ruled well and was like David. 

Then came more wicked kings, with once in a while 
a good one who followed God and tried to make the 
people remember Him. Oftenest, though, the kings 
were selfish and followed Baal and Moloch and all the 
gods of wood and stone, as it was the fashion to do in 
the cities around them. 



XX 

THE PROPHET ELIJAH 

DURING the days of those kings who would not 
follow God He sent to the earth men called 
prophets whose business in life was to remind the king 
and people of Him. Their other name, "seers," was given 
them because God made them able to see into the part 
of the future that He wanted them to know. By seeing 
these things they were able to be the mouth of God, 
speaking His words to a people who had grown so far 
away from Him that He could no longer speak to them 
face to face as He had in the days at Eden. 

In the days of King Ahab there lived a prophet 
called Elijah, to whom God gave the power to do won- 
ders that no ordinary man could do. 

Now Ahab had done very wrong, more than any 
of the kings who came before him. He had set up as 
god a stone image called Baal, the god of his wife, Jeze- 
bel, who was not an Israelite woman. Of course most 
of the people in the land did as the king did, and all 
the people had become wicked, for they had entirely 

95 



96 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

broken God's laws, especially the first one, about loving 
God with all their hearts and having no other gods. 

One day in Ahab's rich palace there suddenly 
appeared a man dressed in rough clothes — the prophet 
Elijah. He did not bow down before the king, but 
instead spoke in a stern voice as though he were a king: 

"As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I 
stand, there shall be no dew nor rain again on the earth 
until I shall ask God for it." 

Ahab did not need to ask the reason for this 
punishment. He knew what wrong he had done. Very 
angrily he told Elijah to hurry out of his court or he 
would kill him. So Elijah slipped away, and was not 
seen again for three years. 

By this time the people were suffering from the 
lack of rain. The crops had failed and now the rivers 
were beginning to dry up. 

Ahab took his servant Obadiah and started out 
to look for all the fountains and brooks that had not 
dried up yet. They came to the crossing of two roads, 
and Ahab sent Obadiah in one direction and he him- 
self went the other way. 

Now Elijah had been well cared for all this time, 
for when the little brook dried up that he lived near, 
an angel came and sent him to another place where a 



THE PROPHET ELIJAH 97 

poor woman lived with her son. She had only enough 
food left for one meal, but when Elijah came there God 
made the little she had into enough to last until the 
days of famine were over. 

So as Obadiah went along his way he suddenly 
met Elijah. He fell down before him, afraid, and said: 

"Are you really Elijah? My master the king has 
sent to every country and nation to find you, and you 
were not in any of them. Come with me now to Ahab." 

"No," answered Elijah, "go and tell the king I 
am here." 

But Obadiah was afraid to go lest the Spirit of the 
Lord would take Elijah away again while he was gone. 
Obadiah was one of the few in the land who still knew 
God. 

Elijah promised to stay, and soon Obadiah came 
back with Ahab. The king's first words were: 

"Are you the man that is making all this trouble 
in Israel?" 

"I never troubled Israel," quietly answered Elijah; 
"you are the one, you and your household. You have 
left God to follow Baal. Now send for the four hundred 
and fifty priests of Baal, and the four hundred who keep 
the groves where they sacrifice. Bring these all to me 
at Mount Carmei." 



98 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

On the top of the mountain Carmel overlooking 
the sea Elijah stood. At one side were the king and 
his attendants. On the other side were the priests of 
Baal, waiting eagerly for another chance to play a trick 
on the people to make them think this Baal cut out of 
stone was the one who made them, and kept them 
alive. 

Behind their cunning faces could be seen a great 
crowd of people surging excitedly this way and that 
as though they had come to a fair or circus. 

When Elijah began to speak they were silent to 
hear him. 

"How long will you try to have two opinions, 
people of Israel! If Jehovah is God, follow Him. If 
Baal is, then follow him." 

Not a sound came from the people. Not one 
voice spoke out saying that he would follow Jehovah. 

"Then I am the only one for the Lord God against 
the four hundred and fifty prophets for Baal," said 
Elijah to the people. But still no answer. 

He turned to the priests, telling them to take one 
of the two animals ready there and prepare it and lay 
it on wood as though they were going to burn it, but 
to put no fire under it, while Elijah did the same with 
the other sacrifice animal. 



THE PROPHET ELIJAH 99 

"Then call on your God, and I will pray to my 
God, and the one who answers by fire is the true God." 

Then the people found their voices, and shouted: 

"Yes, those are good words!" 

The priests of Baal went quickly about their prepa- 
rations. When all was ready, they began to sing their 
chant, "0 Baal, hear us. Hear and answer us!" 

The people held their breath and watched to see 
the dry wood kindle, but it was as still as before. 

They chanted again, but no voice answered. 

The sun was high in the sky, the morning had 
passed, but still the people waited, believing that this 
Baal they prayed to would answer them. The priests 
chanted faster and louder, some leaped up on to the 
altar. 

"Call him louder!" cried Elijah, "perhaps he is 
talking, or gone on a journey — or maybe he is asleep 
and must be waked!" 

It may be that these last words Elijah said 
reminded some of the people of the words which they 
had heard about Jehovah in David's Song, "He that 
keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." 

For some reason they began to grow restless. As 
the priests of Baal saw that the people were beginning 
to lose faith in him, they grew wilder and began to cut 



100 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

themselves, and tear their clothes, still calling to Baal 
to hear them. 

Late in the afternoon, at the time for evening sacri- 
fice in the temple of the Lord, the last cry to Baal had 
died away, and the priests waited trembling and afraid. 
Elijah stepped out, and said to the people, "Come 
near and listen. " 

Then he took twelve stones to remind them of 
the twelve tribes of Israel, and built with them an altar 
to the Lord God. He put on it the wood and the animal 
for sacrifice. Then he had the servants empty over it 
four barrels of water, then again, and again, so that 
the whole was drenched and water stood all about the 
altar. There could be no magic or sleight-of-hand trick 
here if fire came into this wet wood. 

Elijah came near to the people, and said so that 
all could hear: 

"Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let it be 
known today to these people that Thou art God. Hear 
me, God, and turn their hearts back to Thee again." 

Then the fire fell from heaven and burnt the sacri- 
fice and the wood, and not only these, but the stones 
and the dust and licked up the water that was in the 
trench around the altar. 

Over all the people at this sight there came a wave 



THE PROPHET ELIJAH 101 

of feeling like the breath of wind over the water. They 
knelt down and bowed their faces to the ground. All 
through that crowd of people, kneeling ashamed and sor- 
rowful before their God, there came a great murmured 
prayer, from one and another, and finally from all: 

"The Lord He is God! The Lord He is God!" 

Elijah ordered the priests of Baal to be killed, so that 
they could not teach wicked things to the people anymore. 

Then he turned to Ahab, "Hurry away now, for 
there is a great rain coming !" 

And Elijah went apart from the people and began 
to pray to God to send rain. 

He sent his servant seven times to look out over 
the sea to see if there was a cloud in the sky, and each 
time when he brought word that there was none, Elijah 
kept on praying, believing that God was going to be 
true to His word. 

The seventh time the servant came back with the 
word that a little cloud as big as a man's hand had 
come up in the sky. 

Then Elijah told Ahab to hurry in his chariot 
toward the city, for the rain was coming. Ahab drove 
very fast, for the sky was soon black with clouds, but 
Elijah, moved by the hand of the Lord, ran and reached 
the city before the king's chariot. 




XXI 

THE LITTLE MAID 

NOTHER great prophet was Elijah's follower 
and successor, Elisha. On the day that God 
took Elijah away from the earth Elisha had gone to 
Bethel with him. Elijah took off the heavy outer robe 
or mantle that he wore and struck the waters of the 
river with it, so that he and Elisha went over upon a 
dry path. Fifty young prophets stayed on one side 
of the river to watch as these two went over. 

Suddenly they saw a great fire — more than the 
lightning — come down from heaven. It took the form 
of a chariot, and horses were drawing it. Elijah was 
taken up to heaven in this way, and did not leave his 
body on the earth as others must do when they die. 

Elisha had asked that he might have a double 
share of Elijah's spirit. He took Elijah's mantle that 
had fallen to earth and, striking the waters with it, 
the prophets saw that he truly had this power, for the 
waters again parted as they had done for Elijah. 

He came back to Elijah's work, brave and full 
of the Spirit of the Lord, and did many wonders for 
the people who were starving or sick or dying. He 



102 




D.M?K 



NAAMAN'S LITTLE MAID 



O, how I wish my master could be with tht 
prophet E lis ha ! " 



THE LITTLE MAID 103 

brought God's message to the kings, too, as Elijah 
had done, trying always to make them see as he did 
the great, happy things that could come to the man 
who trusted God. 

Among the enemies of the king of Israel the strong- 
est of all were the Syrians, who lived to the north of 
them. Damascus, their king's city, was just over the 
border from Israel. Many times the Syrians had gone 
out under Naaman, their great captain, and burned 
some Israelite towns, killing the men and taking the 
women and girls home to be their servants. 

Naaman was the greatest man in Syria except the 
king. He lived in a splendid palace, and people obeyed 
all his commands. But he had a terrible sickness that 
no one knew how to cure. The leprosy killed all the 
nerves, so that his hand could not feel, and the little 
life-cells died, so that the hand became white as a sheet. 
This disease would creep on through the body eating 
its way until the man finally died. Anyone who touched 
such a person was almost sure to take the disease. So 
Naaman suffered very much, partly because of the sick- 
ness and partly because he must keep away from everyone. 

One day his wife was sitting in a beautiful room 
of the palace, crying and feeling very sad about Naaman. 
A pretty little servant-maid came in to wait upon her. 



104 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

She was an Israelite from a town in Samaria, brought 
here captive by Naaman. 

Suddenly she spoke timidly to her mistress: 

"0 how I wish my master could be with the prophet 
that is in Samaria! I know that Elisha could cure 
him of this leprosy!" 

But her mistress could scarcely believe that 
Naaman could be well again. She had never heard 
of such a thing. So she paid little attention to her. 
One of the servants, however, went and told Naaman 
about the words of the little girl. The king, Benhadad, 
when he heard of this, sent Naaman with a letter to 
the king of Israel, asking him to make Naaman well. 

When the king of Israel read the letter he stood 
up and tore his robe, as the people of that country had 
a way of doing when they were very much troubled. 

"Am I God/' he cried, "that I could make this 
man well? Benhadad is only trying to get up a quarrel 
with me!" 

The story of this was passed quickly around in 
Israel, for the people feared a war. When Elisha heard 
it, he sent to the king, saying, "Why are you afraid? 
Send this man to me." 

So Naaman with his chariots, horses and servants 
came and stood before the plain little house where 



THE LITTLE MAID 105 

Elisha lived. Elisha did not come out to meet the 
great man, but sent a servant to tell him: 

"Go and wash in the river Jordan seven times, 
and your flesh shall be new and well again.' ' 

Naaman was angry at this and said: 

"Are not the rivers in my country better than 
any water in Israel? Why can I not wash in them and 
be well?" 

But one of his servants came to him and reasoned 
with him: 

"My father," he said, "if this prophet had told 
you to do some great or hard thing would you not 
have done it? How much easier then, when he says, 
'wash and be clean. 7 " 

So Naaman went down to the Jordan, and went 
into the water seven times, and, just as Elisha had 
promised, he came up clean and well again. 

He was so thankful for this that he tried to make 
Elisha a big present, but the prophet would not accept 
it. Elisha's servant ran after Naaman's chariot and 
was given some of it, however, but he was punished 
for his greediness by having the leprosy come upon him. 

Naaman's last words to Elisha were: 

"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth 
except Jehovah the God of Israel!" 



xxn 

GOD'S MESSENGERS- 
THE PROPHETS 

WHEN God drew aside the curtain for them the 
prophets saw great things. The brightness and 
glory and goodness of God being shown to them closely 
made them see the wickedness of the people more clearly. 
So they begged the people to return to God, telling 
how He said, "Come now and let us reason together. 
Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white 
as snow, and though they be red like crimson, they 
shall be as wool." 

But they turned the prophets away and would 
not listen, and went their own ways. 

Then they were overcome in battle by the Baby- 
lonians, and carried away to be prisoners and servants 
in that rich country. For nearly eighty years they 
were there, until the king of that country allowed a 
few of them at a time to go back and build up Jeru- 
salem and the Temple again and live there. 

During that sad time of captivity in Babylon 
God sent them two prophets, Ezekiel and Daniel. To 

106 



GOD'S MESSENGERS— THE PROPHETS 107 

these two men God opened the door of the future, so 
that they saw a true picture of the time to come. 

As they looked down that long pathway of the 
coming days they saw first the return of the people 
from Babylon, then five hundred years later the com- 
ing of Jesus Christ, the King who was promised to 
David. "The Messiah/' they called Him, which means 
"the anointed one" — one who is chosen to be the 
King. 

Isaiah knew that this King should come as a "man 
of sorrows" and be killed as a lamb for the sacrifice. 
He gave Him the names which He has been called by, 
"Wonderful, Counsellor, King of Kings, Mighty God, 
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." 

Isaiah had had a wonderful time when he came to 
know God. He saw God sitting on a high throne and 
His glory filled the temple. Six angels were above the 
throne, saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord! The 
whole earth is full of His glory!" The temple shook 
at the sound of it, and was filled with smoke. Then 
Isaiah saw himself as God saw him and he cried out: 

"Alas, there is no hope for me, for I am a man of 
unclean lips! I know now how wicked I am, for I have 
seen God!" 

Then one of the angels flew to him, with a coal 



108 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

from the altar, which he laid on Isaiah's mouth, and 

said: 

"See, now that this has touched your lips, God 

has taken away your sin." 

Then God's voice sounded, saying, "Whom shall 
I send to speak to the people for Me?" 

Isaiah answered: "Here am I, send me." 

From these lips which God had made ready came 
in clear strong words the story of Christ's coming to 
earth as a little baby, His life here and His death to 
take away the sins of all who will believe, His rising 
again from the dead, and then ascending to Heaven. 

But Isaiah did not stop there in his story. He 
and Ezekiel and Daniel and many of the other prophets 
looked beyond that time, and even beyond the time 
we are living in now, to the day when God's trumpet 
shall sound, when, after the dead who followed Him 
in their lives have arisen and gone up to meet Him, 
Christ shall come and be a King upon the earth, 
living and reigning not as the "Man of Sorrows," as 
He came the first time, but with "all things under 
His feet." 

Isaiah says that for those years which come before 
that last great Day, when we shall all be judged and 
Satan forever killed, Christ's reign here shall make the 



GOD'S MESSENGERS— THE PROPHETS 109 

earth happy and peaceful as it was in the days at Eden, 
before Satan came in. 

"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy 
mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge 
of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." 

"The lion and the lamb shall lie down together, 
and a little child shall lead them!" 

"Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" 



xxin 
THE KING IS GOME 

TO a plain little house in the country village of 
Nazareth there came an angel. A young woman, 
Mary, lived there. She was engaged to be married 
to a man named Joseph, whose family could be traced 
back to King David and through his ancestors to Abra- 
ham. So though it was poor, it was a noble, even kingly 
family that the angel came to visit. For Mary, who 
was his cousin, lived in Joseph's house. 

The angel stood before her and greeted her, "Hail, 
highly-favored one!" 

Then Gabriel, for this was God's messenger 
Gabriel, went on to explain to her, 

"You should be the happiest one of all women! 
For God is with you. You are going to have a child, 
and will call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and 
shall be called the Son of the Highest. He will not be 
Joseph, your husband's, son, but God Himself by a 
miracle has sent His own Son to earth. In order that 
He may have a human body like the people on earth, 

you are to be His mother, Mary." 

no 



THE KING IS COME 111 

"I am ready for anything that God wants me to 
do," answered Mary, trusting God entirely. 

When the angel was gone Mary went up to the hill 
country to see her cousin Elisabeth, who had been told 
by an angel that she was to be the mother of John the 
Baptist, the prophet who came to help point the people 
to Jesus Christ. Mary and Elisabeth were both very 
happy at the angels' messages. Mary sang a beautiful 
song of the coming Messiah, for whom all Israel had 
been waiting since Isaiah's time, seven hundred and 
fifty years before. 

********* 

In a country many miles away from Israel there 
lived a very rich man, who spent all his time studying 
the movements of the stars. He had studied so long 
and carefully that he had been able to know when a 
comet or any strange star would appear in the sky. 
Now he knew of the coming of a star which was quite 
different from any that he had ever seen or read about. 
Its course would not be above his country, and accord- 
ing to his knowledge this star meant that a king was 
to be born in the spot over which it shone. So he packed 
his camel for a long journey into the west, and took 
with him a present of gold for the king whom he was 
going to find. 



112 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

At the same time two other men, also students 
of the stars, started out toward the same place, each 
of them with rare and costly gifts. Together the three 
journeyed, watching always for the star to shine, and 
show them the exact house where the king should be 
born. 

When they came to Jerusalem they went to the 
palace of Herod the king, and asked him about it, 
thinking, of course, that he would know of a new king. 
Herod was angry to hear of such a thing and called in 
all his wise men to have them find out about this 
star. 

In the meantime the three men saw the star shin- 
ing clear above them like a great drop of silver fire, 
and followed it until they came to Bethlehem, a tiny 
town outside of Jerusalem. The star appeared to be 
standing over an inn where there were many guests 
who had come up to Jerusalem for the taxing which 
took place once a year. 

But the innkeeper said that there was no baby 
born there that night. Then suddenly he remembered 
the party of people from Nazareth who had come too 
late to secure rooms. 

"I had to make a place for them in the stables," 
he told the wise men, "but you could not be looking 



THE KING IS COME 113 

for these people! They were poor and common, al- 
though I noticed the woman's face. It was very sweet 
and good" — he finished his sentence half to himself. 

The wise men, seeing that the star swung just over 
the rough buildings below the inn, hurried down there 
eagerly. As they came to the door the circle of lantern 
light showed the stable rooms half-full of coarsely 
dressed men with heavy beards, carrying long staves 
in their hands. They looked like shepherds, and yet 
they were all kneeling as though they were in church. 
As the three strangers came nearer to the door they 
saw lying in one of the wooden troughs where the cows 
were usually fed a baby around whose head the dim 
light lay in a soft halo. 

Strange things the shepherds were saying half aloud 
as they knelt there: 

"Glory to God in the highest!" said one as if he 
were repeating a hymn he had heard. 

And another one kept saying over and over, "Peace 
on earth! Peace on earth!" 

As the wise men caught the words "Good tidings 
— fear not!" they slipped quietly into the bare room 
and knelt too on the dusty floor. 

One of the shepherds told the story of the cool 
night on the hills under the stars. Suddenly the skies 



114 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

had opened and there had come from heaven such a 
company of beautiful bright beings that the shepherds 
were frightened. Then one of them had flown down on 
soft silver wings and told the shepherds that for them 
and for all people was born a Saviour, which was Christ 
the Lord. So they had hurried to the place where the 
angel had told them to find Him. 

They all worshiped there for a time the Christ 
who had come to earth to save them. Then the wise 
men opened their boxes of gifts. One had brought 
gold and one a box of myrrh, a rich perfume, and the 
third frankincense, which is a perfume used only in the 
temple services. 

Then they went quietly out to go to their homes 
again. But the wise men did not go back to Jerusalem 
to tell Herod the king what they had seen, for God 
warned them not to. 

Meantime Herod had been hearing from the old 
books of the prophets the story of how a king of the 
family of David should one day come to rule over the 
earth, and of His kingdom there should be no end. It 
made Herod so angry to think of anyone coming to 
take his place that he sent his soldiers at once into 
every home in Bethlehem and all the country round. 
They had orders to kill every baby less than two years 



THE KING IS COME 115 

old, so that Herod might surely make way with the 
child Jesus, of whom he was afraid. 

But while he was still only planning this the angel 
of the Lord came with a message to Joseph, saying 
to him: 

"Get ready quickly and take the baby and Mary 
His mother and hurry down into Egypt. Stay there 
until I bring you word to come back, for Herod wants 
to kill the child. " 

So Joseph got up at once and wakened Mary, 
telling her the angel's message. They did not stop to 
pack their goods, but took only the necessary things 
that they could easily carry with them. It was the 
middle of the night when they went quietly out into 
the darkness, and slipped down the rough cobblestone 
street, leaving behind their home country Judea for they 
knew not how long. Only the stars could see them as 
they started for the strange new land. 



XXIV 

JESUS CHRIST AS A MAN 

THE child Jesus grew in mind and body and every- 
one loved Him. When he became a man, and 
was ready to begin the work He had come to do on 
earth, John the Baptist began to preach in the wild 
places outside the cities. He told of Jesus' coming and 
tried to prepare the people to receive Him. Many 
people came out to hear him, and a few of them were 
sorry for their sins and were baptized. But John told 
of the coming of One who was so much greater that 
John was not worthy even to be His servant. 

One day, as John was preaching, Jesus himself 
stepped out from the crowd to be baptized. As He 
came into the water, heaven was opened above Him, 
and the Spirit of God, taking the form of a dove, came 
down from the bright clouds above upon His head. 
A voice sounded, saying: 

"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased/' 

Jesus had lived and worked among these people 
for thirty years, and they knew that He had never done 

116 



JESUS CHRIST AS A MAN 117 

any wrong thing. But now for the first time they heard 
of Him as God's Son, instead of the carpenter, a son 
of the poor man Joseph, as they had always supposed. 

When Jesus went out into the desert to be by Him- 
self for a time Satan came to Him, and tried with all 
the power he had to make Jesus do wrong. Of course 
God cannot sin. But when He put on this body of ours 
He put on all the possibility of sinning that we have, 
just as one puts on a borrowed coat, and finds it can 
be torn or may wear out, no matter who has it on. But 
the strength of God was greater than Satan's, though 
he had brought before Jesus all the things that could 
tempt a human body. Jesus turned aside his words 
easily and did not think of doing what Satan suggested. 

So it was through all the years of Jesus' life. He 
was tempted to do every kind of wrong that we are, 
and yet He never sinned. 

The next three years of His life were busy ones, full 
of helping all the poor, sick and lame and blind people 
who came to Him, making them quite well again. He 
always made their hearts clean too when He cured them. 
He forgave all the sins that had grown up like weeds 
there, and if they believed He could do it, He gave them 
the power to keep their hearts free from these weeds 
afterward. 



118 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

A great many people began to follow Him about to 
see His miracles of sick people made well, and of feeding 
thousands of people with five loaves of bread and two 
fishes, which He blessed and made into enough for all. 

They liked to listen to His preaching, for He spoke 
of things they had never heard before. He showed 
them how all the words of the prophets had come true 
about His coming, and He told them what should come 
to Him — His death and rising again, and how He should 
return some day to the earth after He had gone to 
Heaven this time. He told them how to live — loving 
each other instead of each man for himself, and laying 
up their riches in Heaven instead of getting rich on 
earth. He told them many stories of which some people 
could hardly understand the meaning, only the few 
who were closest to Him. 

Twelve men He had chosen as His little band of 
followers. Poor, despised, common people they were, 
two or three fishermen, a tax collector, and a young 
boy — yet He told them all His secrets, and these were 
the missionaries He left on the earth to tell people about 
Him. Only one of them failed Him — Judas, who 
thought so much of a few pieces of money that he be- 
came a traitor to Jesus and sold Him to those who 



JESUS CHRIST AS A MAN 119 

For there were many men in authority in the church 
and in the city who hated Jesus because He said He 
was the Son of God, and they could not or did not want 
to believe Him. Also He taught the people many things 
about the Bible and their laws that they did not them- 
selves know or understand, so that they were afraid 
of Him. They wanted to kill Him, but they were 
afraid to do it openly in fear of what the people might 
do, for the people loved Him. 

One day Jesus rode into Jerusalem, and when the 
people saw Him they took down palm branches and 
threw them in the streets to make a pathway for Him 
as for a king. Then they all shouted "Hosanna to 
the Son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the 
name of the Lord!" 

As He came up to the temple all the people followed 
Him. The children — for they all loved Him dearly — 
came with Him into the temple, shouting "Hosanna!" 
which means "Save us, we pray!" 

When the priests of the temple saw this and heard 
the joyful noise of the children they were very angry, 
although these same priests had been allowing men 
to make a great deal of noise in the temple every day 
buying and selling things, so that Jesus had had to 
come in and send the merchants outside, saying, "In 



120 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

the Bible it is written, God's house shall be a house 
of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves !" 
Still the priests were much displeased at the children 
and said to Jesus: 

"Do you hear what these children are saying?" 

Jesus said, "Yes, have you never read in the Psalms 
'Out of the mouths of babes Thou hast made praise 
to come'? " 

For Jesus loved the children and said one day 
to the people who wished to send them away from Him: 

"Let the little children come to me, and do not 
forbid them, for the kingdom of heaven is made of 
people like that." 

And He took them in His arms and blessed them. 



XXV 

DEATH 

THE priests of the church and the high officers 
of the city made a plot to take Jesus and try 
Him and have Him put to death. Jesus knew before- 
hand of course exactly what was going to happen, but 
He did not go away. Instead, He made it quite easy 
for them to find Him, for He was making the words 
come true which had been spoken of Him by the 
prophets, and He was carrying out the plan God had 
made in sending Him down to earth. 

So that night, when He knew they would come 
and take Him, He prepared to eat the Passover feast 
alone with His disciples. This Passover supper was 
still solemnly held once a year. It reminded the Israel- 
ites of the time, hundreds of years before, when the 
Death Angel had passed over their houses. Tonight 
they should have known that God was doing the same 
thing for them again. "The Lamb" — as Isaiah had 
called Jesus — was about to be killed to take upon Him 
the sins of all the people who would have it so. Every- 
one who would take the sign of His blood for their house- 

121 



122 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

holds should be passed over in the death that must 
come to everyone who breaks God's laws. 

As Jesus broke the bread and passed the wine 
to His disciples, He said: 

"This is like the breaking of My body and the 
shedding of My blood for you. Take them, eat and 
drink them as the sign that you accept the gift of My life 
given for your sins. This is the new promise between us." 

During the supper Jesus said, "One of you is going 
to be false to me." 

They were all troubled, and said, "Lord, is it I?" 

Jesus dipped some bread in the sauce of the bitter 
herbs that was used in the Passover supper and gave 
it to Judas, who got up and went out, so they knew 
that he was the one. 

Then Jesus told the disciples just what would come; 
that He would be taken and tried and be put to death; 
that after He left them the disciples would have a hard 
time. They would be laughed at and imprisoned and 
put to death if they would not give Him up. Peter 
spoke out and said that he would never give up Jesus. 
Jesus answered him sadly: 

"Before the cock crows for the morning tomorrow 
you will say three times that you do not know me, 
Peter." 



DEATH 123 

Then He spoke comforting words to them, telling 
them that He was going on to His Father's house, but 
would come again and bring them there. He gave them 
His last commandments, "Love one another, as I have 
loved you" and "Live in Me and I will live in you." 

After Jesus' wonderful prayer they sang a hymn 
and went out into a garden, where they often sat to- 
gether. 

Soon the quiet there among the olive trees was 
broken by the sound of tramping soldiers. They car- 
ried lanterns and swords and sticks. 

As they came to Jesus, Judas, leading the way, 
came up and kissed Jesus to show the soldiers which 
He was. 

Peter wanted to fight and raised his sword, cutting 
off the ear of one man. But Jesus made the ear well 
again, and told Peter to put up his sword, for He had 
explained to them at supper that this was going to 
be done now. 

The soldiers led Jesus away to be judged by the 
high priests, Annas and Caiaphas. Two of the disciples 
followed Him, one going into the palace with Him. 

But Peter stayed at the doorway in a kind of court. 
A serving girl came up to him and said with a sneer: 

"Are you one of the followers of that man in there?" 



124 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

"No," answered Peter. 

"I saw you in the garden with Him," said one of 
the soldiers as they stood around the fire. 

"No, you did not. I am not his disciple!" said 
Peter again. 

"But you came with Him surely," they said. 

"No, I do not know Him," denied Peter. Then 
he heard the cock crowing for the early morning. 

Peter went out and cried bitterly for what he had 
done. 

In the meantime Jesus was taken before first one 
high priest and then another, then to Pilate the Roman 
governor. Each time the ones who hated Him had 
brought lying men, who stood up and told evil stories 
about Jesus, but none of the judges could find reason 
enough for Him to be killed. 

The soldiers were cruel to Him and dishonored 
Him, making fun of the word that was told of Him 
that He was a King. They made a crown of thorns 
and pressed it upon His head. 

Then the priests and others who saw Him cried 
out, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" 

To be nailed upon a cross to die was the Roman 
form of punishing the wickedest men, and they wanted 
to crucify Jesus. 



DEATH 125 

Twice Pilate refused to do this, saying that he 
found no fault in Jesus. But at last, afraid of the Jews, 
he allowed them to take Him away to the hill called 
the Place of a Skull. 

In the morning the soldiers nailed Him to one of 
the wooden crosses, and set it up between two thieves 
who were to be killed the same morning. 

The sky was dark that morning as though night 
were coming. Many people of the city had come out, 
curious to see the death of the "King of the Jews" — 
as Pilate had called Him on a placard placed above 
His head. They surged excitedly this way and that. 

Near the cross were Jesus' disciples and a few 
women crying. One of Jesus' last words was to speak 
to His mother, and to ask John, His beloved disciple, 
to take care of her. 

At the foot of the cross the soldiers were throwing 
dice to see which one should have the beautiful robe 
they had taken from Jesus. Everything in the picture 
was just as the prophets had seen it, for even David 
in the twenty-second Psalm told of how they would 
part Jesus' clothes among them, and cast lots for them. 

The skies grew darker toward noon and there was 
a sound of thunder. As Jesus bowed His head and 
said "It is finished!" His spirit went home. 



126 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

The darkness was like midnight, and the people, 
frightened, rushed to their homes. The curtain in 
the temple, which separated God's Holy of Holies from 
the room of the people, was torn in two from top to 
bottom, as though to say that the people might now 
come near to God by Jesus Christ who had just died, 
and no longer by the priests. 



XXVI 

LIFE 

THE third day after this, very early in the morn- 
ing, Jesus' mother, Mary, and other women who 
loved Him came to the stone tomb where Jesus' body 
had been laid, bringing spices and perfumes. 

As they came slowly through the garden, one said 
to the others: 

"How shall we roll away the great stone that 
Pilate had placed before the doorway of the tomb? I 
heard the soldiers say that he had it sealed there so 
that no one could steal the body and say that He had 
come to life again." 

But when they reached the tomb they found the 
stone gone. As they looked they saw that no body lay 
there. They looked about, much troubled. Suddenly 
two men stood by them in bright, shining clothes and 
said to them: 

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? 
The Lord Jesus is not here, but is risen, as He promised. 
Do you not remember His words?" 

Mary, the sister of Lazarus, was there. She did 

127 



128 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

not find it hard to believe, for she had seen her brother's 
body, which had been lying in the grave, rise up in full 
life and strength when Jesus spoke to him. So the 
women hurried back to the city to tell the disciples 
what they had seen. Some of them could not believe 
that Jesus lived again, although they knew He had 
promised to come back to them. Peter went out to see, 
and not finding Jesus' body, came back wondering. 
Mary Magdalene, too, told the disciples that she had 
seen Jesus himself that morning in His risen body in 
the garden. But the eleven disciples did not yet believe 
such wonderful news. 

There was a little girl, however, among the com- 
pany of Jesus' followers who did not find this at all 
hard to believe. For she herself had been very sick and 
had felt her spirit go away from her body. Her father 
and mother — as she had heard afterward — had known 
that she was dead and had felt very sad that they would 
never see her again on earth. Then she had heard a 
voice, and Jesus took her by the hand and called to her, 
"Daughter, awake!" Her spirit flew back to the body 
it had left — only now it was strong and well — and 
she opened her eyes and saw her mother and father 
standing by her bed. At her side was the dear kind 
face of Jesus, this One whom the disciples were now 






1 





© DMSK 



JAIRUS' DAUGHTER 



And Jesus took her hand, and called to her, 
Daughter, awake ! ' " 



LIFE 129 

saying could not have come back to life again. Why 
could not He rise again, the little girl wondered, if He 
had so easily given her life back to her? And surely 
she herself had heard Him say, "I am come that they 
might have life, and have it more abundantly." And 
the day when He cured the blind man He told the people 
that some day He would lay down His life that He 
might take it up again. 

That same evening Cleopas and another of Jesus' 
followers were walking home from Jerusalem to 
Emmaus, a little town nearby. They talked sadly and 
wonderingly of the strange stories they had heard that 
day. Someone came along their way and joined with 
them in their talk. 

"What have you two been talking about so 
earnestly?" inquired the stranger. 

"Have you not been in Jerusalem for the past 
three days, and heard of the strange things which have 
happened there? That Jesus Christ, the strong Prophet 
of God, has been put to death there?" said Cleopas. 

"We had hoped," he went on, "that He was to be 
the One who should save Israel. But this is the third 
day since He died. Some of our women did say that 
they saw angels at His tomb this morning, who said 
that He was still alive." 



130 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

Then the stranger said, "Why are you so slow to 
believe what you have read in the prophets — that the 
coming Messiah would suffer these things, and rise 
again?" Then He began with the writings of Moses 
and explained to them God's plan for saving Israel 
and all people from their sins. 

When they came to their homes they urged the 
stranger to come in to supper with them. As He asked 
the blessing upon the food, suddenly they recognized 
His voice, and knew that this was truly Jesus himself. 
When they would have spoken more with Him, He 
had vanished from their sight. 

They hurried into Jerusalem, to a little upstairs 
room, where all the disciples and others of Jesus' fol- 
lowers were gathered. They told them their glad news, 
and as they were speaking Jesus stood among them 
and said, "Peace be unto you." 

Then they knew that He had really risen, and at last 
all of them now believed, even the doubting Thomas, that 
this, their dear Master, was the Son of God. 

He told them in a few parting words just what 
He wanted of all His followers forever, until He shall 
come again. He said: 

"So it was worth while for Christ to suffer, and to 
rise again, if My children will tell this story to all the 



LIFE 131 

people in every nation, teaching them to be sorry for 
their sins, and to come to Me to be made clean. Only 
wait now at Jerusalem until I send the Holy Spirit to 
you from heaven. Behold, I will be with you always 
even to the end of the world/' 

Then they walked out together to a place called 
Olivet. When Jesus had come to the top of the moun- 
tain, as He was talking with them suddenly a bright 
cloud came down from the sky and surrounded Him, 
and lifted Him up into Heaven. The disciples stood 
below gazing up into Heaven, as one watches a loved 
friend who is going away. 

Two angels came down out of the brightness, and 
said to them: 

"You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking 
up unto heaven? This same Jesus, whom you have 
seen going up into heaven, shall come back again, in 
the same manner you have seen Him go." 

After Jesus had ascended to heaven from among 
his followers, they waited at Jerusalem for the power 
He had promised them. 

One day as they gathered in their usual quiet 
prayer-meeting, a rushing sound like a great wind came 
through the room, and little tongues of flame were seen 
upon the head of each one there. They then knew that 



132 BIBLE STORIES FOR CHILDREN 

the Holy Spirit, the Comforter Jesus had promised, 
y had come to the earth. They felt His power in them- 
selves, for they could speak of and understand more 
easily the things of God, as the prophets had done in 
the olden days. 

Not only to these people did the Holy Spirit come. 
There was Stephen, the young man who, while he was 
being stoned to death for believing in Jesus, saw God in 
the heavens and Jesus at His right hand. There was Paul, 
at one time the man who did more to hurt the young 
Christians than any other Jew, who now, after he was 
blinded for a time by a vision of Christ on the Damascus 
road, turned about from his evil ways, and became 
the greatest missionary that ever lived. This Paul wrote 
in his letter to Corinth: 

"The things that we teach are deep things, which 
are not in man's knowledge at all, but the Holy Spirit 
teaches them to us, and it is only by this Spirit that we 
can understand them." 

The Holy Spirit is the great strong power of God in 
the world now, until Christ shall come back again, for it 
is the Spirit who prays for us and teaches us to pray, and 
the Spirit who teaches us to understand God's word. 

Sometimes God sends a special message to his 
people by speaking through His Spirit to a certain man. 



LIFE 133 

So it was with John, who when he was young had 
been Jesus' beloved disciple. Now he was an old man, 
having followed Jesus' last command all his life. 

Before he died God showed him, as the last of the 
prophets, the awful and beautiful picture of His plan 
for the end of the world. That the Beast— Satan who 
has troubled the world since the days of Adam— shall 
be thrown forever into a burning lake of fire, together 
with those who chose not to follow Jesus. 

Then there is Heaven, the city built all of precious 
stones, whose gates are twelve pearls. The waters of 
the River of Life flow out clear as crystal from the throne 
of God and of the Lamb, Jesus. There is no need of the 
sim or moon, for the Lord God is the Light of it. 

"And God shall wipe away all tears, and there 
shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, for 
all such things have passed away. Behold, I make all 
things new!" says the Lord. 

"And those who love Him shall see His face, and 
His Name shall be on their foreheads." 

"And the Spirit and the bride, His church, say come! 
And let him that hears say come! 
Let him that is thirsty for it come! 
And whoever will, let him take the Water of Life 
freely!" 




"<2b v 



v *: : ' ^ 



V f. ' " " 







V x x * * 







<? 





%^ y 




x ^ 










%»<& 


















^ ****** 4? ^ ^/T, o" a g • <- */T*a ^ • 







£ °^ 



<£S * Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 160S6 
(724)779-2111 



u * y. 









/ * ^ * ° ^ ^ 




A 







^ 






^•° x ill*- ^o* *J ^c£ 







1^ 



4? o, " 



^°- 






/ * ^ * o / ■ *%> \> * * * ° /• » .*%> V ^ * ° / *% 




o k 



'V.** -:. 



<0. rO ''^^ 











<> 



r°' "^^ 






s^ ^ 







o5 ^ 






v \tf 









°G 




A G ^ 









7 



^cS* 



rf 






^ 










%^ 






^tf 



^d 



<x 






j5 ^ 








LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 241 288 3 £ 



